


Generation Why

by ghouls_buddy



Series: Generation Why: Misfits AU [1]
Category: Misfits (TV 2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Sexual Content, but he's immortal so technically not, potentially if i can bring myself to write it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:42:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28549572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghouls_buddy/pseuds/ghouls_buddy
Summary: Bea is good. That’s how people have always described her. She never breaks the rules and always does the right thing. She grew up in the midlands, where she did well in school and people liked her. She has always been quite shy, often struggling to make herself heard, and at her happiest when lost in a book. She has a deep fascination with nature and her nights out consist of a small bar and karaoke. Her mother left when she was 10, leaving her father to raise her and her 6 year old brother. When Bea was 17, her father reconnected with an old school friend and they quickly fell in love. By the time she turned 18, her father was remarried and the family, now including a new stepsister, moved south.Bea plans, and is expected, to attend university, but when she finds herself mixed up in trouble and given community service, her life suddenly becomes a lot more interesting. Through navigating a new power, a rocky relationship with her stepsister and an unexpected crush, Bea discovers that real life can be just as exciting as fiction, and that always being good is overrated.
Relationships: Nathan Young/Original Character(s)
Series: Generation Why: Misfits AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091672
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter One

Bea was way too early for her first day of community service. Her dad had offered to drop her off on his way to work and not in the mood for walking she had accepted. Tugging at the door, Bea found it locked so she wondered over to one of the benches overlooking the lake. Taking a seat, she pulled out a book, flipping to the last page she had read.

Engrossed in the story, Bea didn’t realise how long she had been sat reading, but upon checking the time she realised that she was now late. Rushing back towards the centre doors, Bea quickly entered and found the office, knocking cautiously on the open door.

“Beatrice Taylor?” The man asked without looking up from the paperwork on his desk.

“Yep, that’s me. Sorry I’m late, I promise I was here on time, early in fact, but I got distracted. Sorry.” Bea rambled and the man finally looked up, surprised that she had actually apologised.

“It’s fine. I’m Tony, I’ll be your probation worker. Jumpsuits are over there, you only get one so take care of it, keep it clean. You can change in the locker room; the others are already in there. You have five minutes.” Bea nodded and grabbed an orange jumpsuit from the top of the pile, turning to leave the office. “And Beatrice.”

“Bea” she quickly interrupted, hating hearing her full name being used.

“Bea, don’t let it happen again.”

“I’ll try not to.” Bea shyly smiled and left the office. She walked into the locker room to find six other people already there. She scanned the room for the one face she recognised, but Kelly had no interest in even acknowledging her presence. Unsurprised, Bea opened the locker closest to the door and quickly got changed.

\---

Outside they all stood in a line, they’re backs pressed against the railing as Tony lectured them on the importance of community service. Bea was stood at the end of the line, next to a man with pale skin and wide eyes who she could really only describe as looking like he had seen a ghost. Next to him was Kelly, who was still refusing to look at her, her hair pulled high into a ponytail and a thick layer of makeup, the same look Bea had seen on her every day for the last year.

“Yeah, but what if they’re right?” The Irish accent pulled Bea from her thoughts and she looked at the man from who it came. She first noticed the mop of curly hair, and then the smug look on his face as he challenged Tony.

“No offence, but I’m thinking some people are just born criminals.” He went on, pointing to the guy stood on his right who, despite being shorter and just as skinny, looked as though he could knock him out with one punch. The baseball cap pulled down over his eyes and wide stance were all Bea needed to figure out that he was the type of guy who couldn’t control his anger.

“Are you looking to get stabbed?” He retaliated, confirming Bea’s suspicions, and just like that Tony had lost all control over the situation as the two argued. A phone began to ring, to which the other girl in the line-up answered, which further angered Tony and sparked a debate between them. From the way she had looked at herself in the mirror in the locker room to the way she smirked as she argued with the probation worker, it was clear that she had all the confidence that came from knowing you were the prettiest person in the room. The Irish guy wasted no time getting involved in this new argument, before moving his attention on, seemingly not satisfied until he had annoyed everyone in his presence.

“You all right there, weird kid?” he addressed the pale man stood next to Bea, “you and your girlfriend are being very quiet down there."

“Girlfriend?” Bea questioned, but he had already turned back to continue riling up his original target, blowing him a kiss. She made eye contact with her supposed boyfriend, who only stared at her with that fearful look, making Bea feel a little uncomfortable.

“Can I move to a different group? This isn’t going to work for me” A voice came from the other side of the two men, who’s argument looked as though it was about to turn physical. None of them were pleased to be here, but he looked particularly agitated, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the antics of the other offenders.

“Umm, what makes you think you’re better than us?” Kelly finally spoke, and suddenly all the commotion stopped.

“What is that accent?” the Irish guy questioned. Bea snorted in amusement despite the fact that she possessed the same accent, albeit less aggressive. Once again, the group of young offenders began bickering, all talking over each other. Tony, holding the guy in the hat back from attacking the man who had made it his mission to rile him up, realised that he was not going to be able to finish his motivational speech and assigned the group their first act of service; painting benches.

\---

Bea sat crossed legged on the floor next to the bench she had been assigned to, stirring the paint in the can with her brush rather than actually painting. Considering no one could shut up earlier, everyone was getting on with the task at hand in silence. “Oh man, there’s paint on my cap.

"This is bullshit!” The sudden outburst interrupted the silence, the boy kicking his paint can in anger and storming away. His dramatic exit was ruined by an abandoned trolley in his path, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.

“I’m Simon, by the way” the pale guy suddenly spoke, just loud enough for Bea to hear.

“Bea” she replied putting her hand out towards him, which he hesitantly shook after wiping his hand on the leg of his jumpsuit, the act having done little to reduce their clamminess.

“That’s Curtis, Alisha, Nathan and Kelly” Simon told Bea, pointing to each member of the group. “And Gary who stormed off. Tony, the probation worker, he introduced us all before you arrived.”

“Oh, thanks. That’s good to know.” Bea smiled at him, which he returned, his eyes darting around looking anywhere but at Bea. He was about to respond when Nathan’s voice caught her attention.

“I’m guessing… shoplifting?” he looked at Kelly expecting an answer, which he didn’t receive. “No?”

“Don’t act like you know me cos you don’t.” Kelly spat back, and Bea scoffed, unsurprised by her hostility, causing them to both look towards her.

“I’m just making conversation. This is a chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swapping tips. Brainstormin’.” Nathan continued, his eyes flicking between the two girls. “C’mon what did you do?”

“This girl called me a slag, so I just got into a fight.”

“Was this on the Jeremy Kyle Show?” Nathan teased.

“No, it was at Argos.” Kelly replied, unamused.

“Oh, Argos. You know what you should’ve done, you should have gotten one of them little pens they have and jabbed it in her eye” Nathan explained, and Bea burst out laughing. “What about you then?” He asked Bea, walking over to carefully perch on the edge of the bench that had yet to be painted.

“I tried to stop a fight in Argos. The police thought I was getting involved.” Bea explained, while staring at the side of Kelly’s head, daring her to retaliate.

“Oh, so you two know each other then?” Nathan questioned, pointing between you.

“Her creepy, suck ass father wormed his way into my mum’s life last year and brought his goody two shoes kids with him.” Kelly told him, too which Bea just rolled her eye, far too used to Kelly’s attitude after living with her for almost a year. She was glad when Kelly surprised everyone with her engagement last month and moved in with her fiancée, giving Bea a room to herself again.

“Step-sisters” she responded nonchalantly.

“You seem close.” Nathan remarked sarcastically, to which they both scoffed. “What about you, weird kid?” He addressed Simon, who looked surprised that someone had spoken to him. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you look like a panty sniffer”. While Bea felt a little bad for Simon, being shy herself she knew how uncomfortable he must be feeling, but she had to admit Nathan was right. There was just something about the way he looked, his wide eyes constantly watching everyone as though he could figure out all their secrets just by staring them.

“I’m not a panty sniffer. I’m not a pervert.” Simon shot back, but this did not discourage Nathan’s teasing, the man now using his paintbrush to mime jerking off. “I tried to burn someone’s house down!” The exclamation surprised them all, causing Bea to drop her paintbrush into the can. Nathan shared a concerned look with her, before getting up and going back to stand in front of the bench he was meant to be painting.

“What did you do?” Kelly asked him. Bea stood from her position on the floor, interested in knowing the answer to this question too, and not much fancying putting her hand in the paint to retrieve her brush.

“Me? I was done for eating some pick ‘n’ mix.”

“Bollocks” both girls replied simultaneously, the sound of thunder pulling them all away from the conversation before they could continue to question him.

“What is going on with this weather?” Nathan exclaimed looking up, as grey clouds quickly filled the sky above them.

“How’d that happen?” Tony questioned as he walked over, pointing to the can of paint Gary had kicked over. “It’s painting benches. How’d you screw that up? You tell me because I’ve got no idea.” Before anyone had the chance to respond, something hit the car behind him, the top of it folding in causing the alarm to start blaring. Bea quickly stepped back, now standing next to Nathan.

“That’s my car” Tony exclaimed.

“Classic” Nathan laughed, and Bea smirked at him, also amused by the man’s bad luck. Something hit the water right behind the pair, and Bea reflexively grabbed Nathans arm as water came down over them. “Okay, so I’m a little bit freaked out.” Nathan shouted; his cocky attitude momentarily replaced by genuine concern.

“What is that?” Alisha asked, looking up as the now black clouds continued to get closer. What appeared to be a giant block of ice hit a bin right next to where Simon stood filming the sky on his phone. Tony suggested everyone get inside and the group took off running, trying to avoid being hit by the falling ice. When they got to the door of the community centre, they found it to be locked. Tony fumbled for his keys as everyone panicked and shouted various forms of hurry up behind him.

“DON’T SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT” Tony shouted in a moment of frustration, just as a flash of lighting struck the group, sending them all flying backwards. They landed on the ground, groaning in pain as the last bits of ice fell around them, the sky now completely clear.

“I feel really weird” Kelly stated, the first to sit up.

“That’ll be the lightning” Curtis pointed out, the others also moving to sit up. Bea, however, just lay there staring at the sky, still in shock from the near-death experience. Her life-long fear of being struck by lightning coming true, and yet she was still alive.

“We should be dead.” Simon noted, and Bea started to laugh to herself, still lying down, her arm draped over her eyes. “Are you okay?” Simon asked her with concern.

“We should be dead.” She repeated back to him, laughing even harder, the others now also watching her with concern.

“A little reassurance might be nice, you know.” Nathan addressed Tony, who had landed by the doors and was only now starting to move. “You’re fine. Looking good.” He supplied.

“Wanker” Tony slurred in response.

“Did he just call me a wanker?” Nathan asked, looking around at the others disbelievingly.

“Is everyone alright?” Tony finally asked.

“We could’ve died, you dick” Alisha shot back.

“Are you alright?” Kelly asked him, his face contorting as he grunted. “You’re acting like a freak.”

“Maybe we should call it a day” Tony told them, and everyone got up to head back to the locker room, apart from Bea who had still made no attempt to move. Nathan walked over to her, gently nudging her with his foot until she moved her arm to look up at him. She took the hand that he had offered out to her, letting herself be pulled up and following the rest of the group.

Once dressed, Bea shut the locker door and rested her forehead against the cool metal. The shock of the incident now wearing off, her head was pounding from where it collided with the pavement.

“Should we go to the hospital or something? Get checked out?” She addressed the whole room, but no one answered.

“I feel fine.” Curtis finally responded, walking past her to leave the room, the other two men agreeing and following him out.

“Well my head is pounding. Maybe I have concussion.”

“Don’t be so dramatic Bea. Just get daddy to kiss it better.” Kelly remarked, and Bea rolled her eyes, not in the mood to get into another argument with her stepsister. Instead she picked up her bag and went to join the guys in the hall, leaving the two girls alone to finish getting ready. Out in the hall, Bea strolled over to where the three men stood, discussing the absence and concerning mental state of their probation worker. However, once Alisha joined and decided she wouldn’t be waiting around, everyone swiftly followed her out the doors.

\---

Once home, Bea grabbed some painkillers for her head and flicked on the TV, deciding against a quick nap before she had to head out to work, just in case she did have a concussion. By the time she got to work, her headache had only slightly eased, and she prayed that she wouldn’t face any confrontational customers before closing.

With only an hour left it appeared her prayers had come true, with the shift having been extremely uneventful. If only she had prayed that there would be no screaming children. Bea stared at the young child crying outside the stores changing rooms, the noise worsening the pain in her head with every second it continued.

_“Who lets their child just stand there and scream?”_ She thought bitterly. _“Will you just shut up please.”_ Suddenly the child fell silent and Bea sighed with relief. The mother left the changing room shortly after, grabbing the child’s hand and handing her unwanted clothes to Bea, exiting the changing rooms without a word.

_“You could at least apologise.”_ She thought, watching the woman leave and throwing the clothes into the box in annoyance.

“I’m so sorry about the noise.” The mother shouted back to Bea.

“It’s fine, no worries” Bea smiled her best retail smile to the woman, despite her annoyance and shock that the woman had done exactly what was in her mind. “That was weird.” Bea mumbled to herself, preparing to close the changing rooms, ready for her shift to be over.

Dragging herself up the stairs of the small three bed house, Bea could only think about getting some sleep after the day that she had had. However, when she walked into her bedroom, she noticed that all the stuff that she had been storing on top of Kelly’s bed had been moved to her own, and the former bed was occupied.

_“Oh great.”_ She thought, not particularly excited about sharing her personal space with a person who apparently hated her guts.

“Don’t even talk to me. Don’t even think about talkin’ to me.” Kelly told her from her position underneath the blankets.

“I wasn’t going to.” Bea responded, grabbing her pyjamas and heading for the bathroom. Once she had emptied and climbed into her bed and was ready to go to sleep, she looked over to Kelly’s bed, noticing that she still hadn’t moved.

_“I hope everything’s alright.”_ She thought, switching off the lamp. After a few moments, Bea could hear sniffling coming from the other side of the room.

“I know you told me not to talk to you, but are you okay?” She asked hesitantly, awaiting the surly response.

“We broke up. The engagement’s off.” Kelly admitted, surprising Bea. “I don’t want to talk about it though.”

“Okay. If you do though, I’m here.”

_“He was dick anyway you can do so much better.”_ she added in her head.

“Thanks” Kelly murmured.

“You’re welcome.”

\---

The next morning, once again choosing to be too early in favour of a lift, Bea sat on the steps just in front of the community centre, assuming that it would once again be locked. She pulled out her book and set an alarm on her phone, determined to not be late again. Only a few pages later, she heard the rattle of metal behind her. Turning around she saw Nathan climbing out of the window, letting the metal shutter drop behind him. He quickly looked around to see if he had been seen, his eyes landing on Bea, knowing that he had been caught. Bea stood up and walked over to the man, curious about what he was up to.

“What are you doing?”

“Mornin’” He replied instead of answering.

“Why were you just climbing out the window?” Bea further interrogated.

“None of your business” Nathan spat back, starting to walk away, stretching his arms above his head, his t-shirt rising slightly. Which Bea definitely did not look at. Or even notice.

“Did you break in?” She continued, following the man.

“Maybe”

“Why?”

“What don’t you understand about none of your business?” He turned to her, getting annoyed at her questioning.

“Fine. So much for swapping tips.” She smirked. The boy huffed in response but was also amused at the call back to their previous conversation.

“Y’know, I never did get your name. I’m Nathan.” He gave her his hand which she gladly shook. Bea noticed that his hands were a lot less clammy than Simon’s and, surprisingly, much softer.

“Bea.” Before she had the chance to hear whatever joke about her name he was cooking up, she noticed the graffiti scrawled across the side of the centre reading ‘I’M GOING TO KILL YOU’.

“Woah” she exclaimed pointing to the wall. Nathan looked at the wall, pulling out a packet of cigarettes and putting one to his lips. He offered one to Bea, who declined, and the pair walked over to join the rest of the group.

“This is a joke. Did one of you do this?” Curtis questioned.

“Don’t look at me cos I didn’t do it.” Kelly replied defensively.

“Bea was just sitting over there, that’s pretty suspicious.” Nathan accused, looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow, and Bea felt that this was to get her back for questioning him.

“Bea has never broken a rule in her life.” Kelly scoffed.

“Nathan was climbing out the window, that’s way more suspicious.” Bea countered, mirroring his look. Nathan glared at her, annoyed that she’d given up his secret.

“I’ll tell you who did it.” Nathan once again addressed the group, attempting to move the conversation on before anyone else could question him. “It’s that Banksy prick. There’s a hidden meaning.”

“Maybe someone wants to kill us” Simon suggested.

“Why would anybody want to kill us?” Kelly questioned him.

“Well…” Bea answered, looking her stepsister up and down. Kelly stepped towards her in retaliation, but Tony walked up to them preventing her from actually doing anything. Though Kelly was yet to ever actually physically hurt her, Bea had seen her do it enough times to others that she still got scared whenever Kelly threatened her.

“Right come on, you lot, let’s get changed.” Tony announced.

“Have you seen this? Someone’s taking the piss.” Curtis asked Tony, pointing at the wall.

“Yeah, it’s terrible isn’t it. All this anti-social behaviour.”

“Oh, is he having a dig at us?” Nathan quipped, slinging his arm around Bea’s shoulders which she made no move to prevent. Alisha’s phone began to ring, and this seemed to strike a nerve in Tony.

“Right, that’s it! All of you just give me your phones. No one’s making any more calls today.” He declared, stepping in front of Alisha, holding out his hand expectantly.

“Are you allowed to take our phones?” Alisha challenged him, holding her phone up to his face and snapping a photo, laughing as the man snatched the device from her hands. Everyone handed over their phones with little fight, besides Nathan who tried to argue that he was expecting a call from his mum. They all stormed past the probation worker to go get changed, offering various insults and snickers as they went. What sounded like an animal’s snarl came from Tony as Bea walked past to follow the others, and she noticed that his eyes looked as though they had turned blue. Knowing that this was most likely just a trick of the light, she carried on walking, but there was just something about his behaviour that just seemed off.


	2. Chapter Two

The group all stood scrubbing the red paint off the wall, besides Alisha who was lying on the bench sunbathing, Curtis the only one putting in any real effort.

“You know after the storm, did any of you’s feel like, dead weird?” Kelly asked the group.

“Yeah” Nathan responded, “I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus.”

Kelly rolled her eyes and went back to scrubbing the paint before suddenly turning towards Simon, walking up to him.

“What, did you feel weird?” she asked him.

“You don’t want to hear about my anus?” Nathan continued.

“Gross” Bea muttered, flicking her brush towards him so that water hit his face, to which he retaliated in the same manner. 

“Something did happen,” Simon murmured, preventing an outright water fight between Bea and Nathan, who both found a sudden interest in the conversation.

“What’s that? Squeak up!” Nathan taunted.

“Something happened to me” he reiterated.

“What are you a virgin?” Nathan further teased.

“Leave him alone” Bea scolded but failed to hold back a small amused smile.

“What was it?” Kelly asked him, but Simon shook his head, regretting his decision to say something.

“It was nothing” he supplied instead.

Kelly scowled, and then stormed passed Bea to shove Nathan causing him to knock over is bucket of water, nearly tripping over it in the process. Bea snorted, until she also received a shove from Kelly, who was walking away from the group.

“What was that for?” Nathan exclaimed, looking to Bea who just shrugged in response.

“That’s just how she is.”

“Jesus”

\---

“It’s a shame more women don’t commit crime. Why is that?” Nathan asked, attempting to make conversation as he and Curtis played with the football table. “I mean luckily we’re evenly split, but it would’ve been nice to have some more options.” Upon hearing this, Bea instantly regretted walking over to see what the boys were up to, having a feeling she knew exactly what Nathan was implying.

“There was four of us” Simon responded, which everyone ignored.

“I’m talking about getting laid.” Nathan continued. Bea rolled her eyes, her suspicions correct. “So how are we going to do this?”

“Do what?” Curtis asked.

“Divide them up. Because I gotta tell ya, the one with one with all the frizzy hair, I don’t see me and her getting it on.”

“Because she’s beautiful?” Curtis laughed.

“No, because she’d be way too much effort. She looks seriously high maintenance man. But that other one…” Nathan clicked his fingers, trying to remember her name.

“Kelly” Simon and Bea both supplied.

“Whatever. A couple of Bacardi Breezers, man, I reckon she’ll be good to go. And you two have that whole quiet, nerd thing going on so that’s an obvious match.” Nathan pointed to Simon and Bea, and Bea scrunched her face in disgust, feeling a little bad after seeing Simon’s hurt look.

“Yeah, and the girls like, do they have a say in this?” Curtis questioned him.

“A group of young people doing mindless shit all day. Face it man, it’s gonna happen. It always does. It’s biology. Or physics. One of those.” Nathan deliberated.

“There’s something you’ve failed to consider here though” Bea spoke up.

“That none of you will sleep with him” Curtis quipped, nodding towards Nathan, who feigned hurt at the remark.

“That opposites attract, man” Bea argued. “Your pairings are all too similar. They’d never work.”

“Oh? So how would you suggest we divide them?” Nathan challenged.

“Well if we’re going opposites then it’d have to be either you and Alisha, me and Curtis, and Simon and Kelly” Bea suggested. “Or. Simon and Alisha, Curtis and Kelly, and you and me.” She held eye contact with him while saying the last part.

“I see what’s going on here. You want a bit of this.” Nathan declared cockily, gesturing to his whole body.

“Exactly.” Bea responded in complete seriousness, and the three men looked at her in shock.

“Wait, really?” Nathan asked her.

“Of course.” She continued, Nathan now leaning forward onto the table, his head in his hands as he looked at her.

“So, when are we going to do this then?” He inquired, biting his bottom lip.

“We’re not doing anything right now.” Bea searched the room, her eyes landing on the supply room. “If you’re up for it?” She dared him, nodding towards the room.

“Uh, yes” Nathan responded eagerly, as Curtis shook his head in disbelief. Bea walked around to Nathan’s side of the table, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the supply room. Nathan followed, an excited skip in his step, not quite believing his luck. He looked back towards the other men, raising his brows at them, expressing his delight. Bea grabbed the door handle swinging the door open and gestured for Nathan to enter, which he obeyed instantly. Bea then slammed the door shut, her still on the outside of it, and grabbed a nearby chair, jamming it against the door handle, locking Nathan in.

“Hey, that’s not fair.” Nathan exclaimed, attempting to open the door. “You little tease, this isn’t funny” He shouted banging on the door. “Let me out!” Bea doubled over in laughter, Curtis joining in with her enjoyment. Even Simon found the situation amusing, cracking a small smile. “C’mon, let me out” Nathan cried, not finding the situation amusing at all.

“See ya later, Nathan” Bea shouted to him, walking away.

“You can’t leave me here! Come back!” But Bea ignored him, still laughing as she left to join Alisha. She figured one of the boys would free him.

\---

Bea and Alisha sat on the sofa, with Simon on the floor, when Nathan strolled over.

“Not cool” he sulked, pointing at Bea, who responded with a grin. Nathan then began aggressively shaking the vending machine with the hopes that he could get a drink to fall. Once successful, he dropped himself into a wheelchair and rolled his way to join the others, as Alisha struck up a conversation with Curtis. 

“When I was in sixth form, you came to my school. You gave this big talk about athletics and all your medals and that.”

“So, I’m guessing you’re not going to the Olympics.” Nathan joined, never missing an opportunity to tease someone.

“Funny” Curtis shot back.

“I heard he was dealing crack.” Alisha announced, mostly directed at Nathan.

“What? I wasn’t dealing crack.”

“No, no, no, the papers said it was steroids.” Nathan told Alisha, the pair completely ignoring that Curtis had even spoken.

“That stuff will shrivel your dick.” Alisha noted, pointing her bottle of water at Nathan, who hummed in agreement.

“It wasn’t steroids. I’m not a cheat. That stuff in the papers was bullshit.” Curtis told them, defensively.

“So, what was it then?” Bea asked, noticing that he was getting annoyed at the pair’s speculation.

“I got caught with a little bit of coke. All right? I messed up one time.

“No one gets community service for possession” Alisha scoffed, not believing him.

“If it was anyone else, they’d have gotten a caution. They said cos of my profile they needed to send a message.” Curtis explained.

“You let yourself down.” Nathan scolded, amusing Alisha, but the look on Curtis’ face made Bea feel bad for him. “You let the kids down.” He continued. “You let your ah” Bea kicked the wheelchair he was sat in before he could finish, causing it to nearly tip over. However, it was too late, Nathan already riling Curtis up enough for him to start shouting at him, grabbing the front of his jumpsuit so that their faces were inches apart, continuing to lay into him.

“You can’t hit someone in a wheelchair” Nathan begged, and Curtis pushed his chest, sending the wheelchair into the wall behind. As Curtis walked away, Nathan looked over to the two girls in amusement, but Bea shook her head at him. As someone who was also being punished for not doing anything wrong, she really felt for him. At least her life wasn’t going to change much, his whole career has been destroyed.

“Do you want to know what I got done for?” Alisha asked the group, defusing the tension slightly. Despite no one saying yes, and Nathan outright saying no, she dived into the story anyway, which she told in great detail. The other four sat listening, barely paying attention, until Alisha started to seductively use her water bottle to demonstrate. Bea, feeling a little uncomfortable with the show, looked to see the boy’s responses, finding them all watching intently. Her gaze was drawn to Nathan, who appeared to be mesmerised by the display, and she couldn’t help but wonder how he would look if…

“ _No._ ” Bea scolded herself, tearing her eyes away from the man’s face. “ _God, no. Calm down._ ”

Suddenly, Kelly burst through the doors, falling to the floor.

“He’s gonna kill us.” She exclaimed, getting up and locking the door.

“Nice entrance. Very dramatic.” Nathan laughed at her.

“The probation worker, he’s gone mental. He’s just attacked me. Something really weird is happening. I’m hearing these voices in my head, it’s like I can hear what people are thinking.” She explained, clearly freaked out. “The storm. The lightning. I dunno. It’s just done something to us.”

“Okay. If you can hear our thoughts, what am I thinking now?” Nathan challenged her.

“You think it’s bullshit?”

“Of course I think it’s bullshit, you don’t need to be a mind reader to know that.” Nathan replied, but Bea began to feel a bit concerned. She had never seen Kelly this freaked out about anything.

“Why are you in a wheelchair?” Kelly asked, still standing over Nathan.

“It was the storm. The strange tingling sensation in my anus has spread through my body and now I can’t feel my legs.” Nathan mocked, to which he received a kick in the legs.

“I’m serious” Kelly grunted.

“This does sound like complete shit.” Alisha argued.

“He is out there, and he chased me” Kelly shouted, desperation filling her voice.

“Something’s happened to me too” Simon spoke up. “Earlier on, when we were in the locker room, I was invisible. I turned invisible.” Everyone looked around at each other, believing this even less than Kelly’s story. Kelly, however, looked at him, believing him completely.

“So, she’s psychic and you can turn invisible. That seems likely.” Curtis inputted.

“Did anyone witness this miraculous disappearance?” Nathan questioned him.

“You were all there”

“I think we might have noticed you vanishing into thin air.” Alisha countered, and Bea thought that actually she probably wouldn’t. He was so quiet she forgot he was there half the time.

“You didn’t. I was standing right there. You couldn’t see me.” He continued to argue.

“All right.” Nathan began, rolling the wheelchair so that he was right in front of him, “Go on then. Do it. Turn invisible” He challenged. Simon began straining and groaning, forcing something to happen, though nothing did.

“Oh my god, he’s disappeared.” Nathan cried.

“Can’t you see me?” Simon asked, waving his hand in front of Nathan.

“No” Nathan replied, throwing his empty can to bounce off Simon’s forehead. “You’re invisible! You two are hilarious. Really, keep taking that medication.” He began to roll away, but Kelly stopped him, leaning over him and grabbing the armrests of the wheelchair.

“Don’t go out there, he will kill you.” The panic in her voice made Bea concerned. She’d never seen Kelly scared of anything.

“Of course he will. Because he’s such as badass.” Nathan responded.

“She’s telling the truth.” Curtis suddenly declared, and everyone looked at him in surprise.

“And you know this how? I suppose you’re a psychic now too.”

“All this. It’s already happened once.” Curtis explained. “I opened the door, the probation worker, he killed you. You were dead. Everything froze. Time went backwards.”

“What are you saying? What, you turned back time?” Alisha questioned. Bea was getting increasingly uneasy, Curtis the last one she expected to agree with them.

“It just gets better by the second.” Nathan said, standing from the wheelchair and walking towards the door.

“I’m telling you, don’t open that door.” Curtis cried after him, but Nathan ignored him, opening the door anyway and looking out. He slammed the door shut again, turning to the group with fear in his eyes.

“He’s right. The probation workers gone mental.” The door behind him shook as Tony slammed into it, Nathan jumping forward with a yelp. The group huddled together, watching the door as Tony continued to slam against it, trying to force it open.

“The graffiti” Bea realised.

“He wrote it.” Simon finished for her.

“What did I say? I said there was a hidden meaning.” Nathan argued, and Bea rolled her eyes. “Or not.”

“Did anything happen to you guys?” Kelly asked the three who were yet to reveal their powers.

“No” Alisha answered, the other two shaking their heads in response. “We should call the police.”

“He took our phones” Simon pointed out. Tony stopped hitting the door and the room went silent.

“Why did you come back here? You should’ve gone for help.” Alisha contended, and the two girls began to bicker.

“God, Kelly. Not now.” Bea complained, grabbing the girls arm to pull her away from Alisha.

“He tried to kill me. I came back here to warn you’s lot and I could’ve left ya” Kelly spat, pulling her arm free from Bea’s grip. “I’m sick of every single one you judging me. You can all fuck off!” She shouted shoving Bea’s shoulder and causing her to stumble backwards, Nathan catching her before she fell.

“Whatever. I’m getting out of here.” Alisha declared, heading to the back of the centre.

“Out the back way, come on” Nathan called, grabbing Bea’s arm and pulling her with him as he followed Alisha, the others following behind. Nathan suddenly slipped, landing on his back and nearly pulling Bea down with him. She managed to get her balance, looking down to Nathan and noticing what it was he had actually slipped on.

“Is that blood?” she shrieked, jumping to move out of the puddle of red underneath her feet.

“Jesus Christ.” Nathan exclaimed, quickly standing and looking at the blood that covered his hands. “Get it off me.” He gagged, wiping his hands on the front of his jumpsuit. They looked at the locker that the blood appeared to be coming from, and Curtis stepped forward to open it. Upon doing so, Gary’s body fell forward, and everyone screamed jumping away from the locker. Bea felt like she was going to throw up, or cry, or maybe both.

“He’s going to kill us” Alisha cried.

“Turn back time, stop this happening.” Nathan directed Curtis.

“I don’t know how it works!” He argued back.

“Oh, that’s great. That’s really useful.” Nathan demurred. Hearing Alisha crying, Curtis turned towards her reaching out to touch her.

“Come on, don’t look at him.” He grabbed her arm, and gasped. “I’ve got to have sex with you right now! Let’s go. Let’s do it now.” The others all watched, taken back by the sudden change.

“Get off me, you freak!” Alisha cried, shoving Curtis away, who appeared to return to normal. Alisha went to slap him, but Curtis grabbed her arm to stop her, gasping once again and returning to his previous state of lust. Alisha pulled away, freeing herself from his grasp, and Curtis once again went back to normal.

“What did I do?” He asked, scared and confused.

“You said you was gonna shag her” Kelly informed him.

“It’s when you were touching her.” Simon suggested. Alisha looked at her hands and then touched Simons neck, who reacted in the same way as Curtis.

“What is happening to me?” She exclaimed, tearing her hand away from Simon, who collapsed to his knees. Before anyone could have the chance to reply, Tony smashed through the glass behind them. Without thinking, Bea grabbed a nearby tin of paint and swung it at his head, knocking him unconscious. She dropped the tin, and fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands and breathing heavily. The others stared at the body in shock.

“What did you do?” Nathan asked her, Bea squeezing her eyes shut, trying not to cry.

“Is he dead?” Alisha questioned and Bea’s stomach dropped as her fear was aired. 

“I’m no doctor, but… you see the way the back of his head’s caved in like that…” Nathan supplied. All of a sudden, Tony screamed, grabbing Kelly’s leg. Bea looked up, watching as Kelly repeatedly kicked their attacker in the head until he was no longer moving.

“That should do it.” Nathan muttered. Everyone stared at the body, unsure of what to do now.

“He would’ve killed us.” Kelly reasoned.

“What do we do now?” Bea asked, standing up from her position on the floor despite her shaking legs threatening to give out. Everyone began to argue, quickly ruling out the police.

“If there’s no body, there’s no crime.” Simon cut in. “We should bury them under the flyover.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nathan agreed. “We can put them in those wheelchairs, wheel them up there, and if anyone see’s us, we’re just a bunch of young offenders taking a couple of specials for a walk in the sunshine.” Everyone looked at each other, contemplating the plan, but with no better ideas, they all agreed to it.

\---

“So, hold on. All of you have some kind of special power. Everyone can do something except me.” Nathan exclaimed, as the group shovelled dirt onto the bodies they had just dropped in the hole.

“I can’t.” Bea supplied.

“He can do something” Nathan pointed to Simon, “He can do something, and we can’t. That’s ridiculous, look at him!” Simon awkwardly wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Maybe you can do something, you just haven’t found out what it is yet.” Simon reassured, despite the obvious insult.

“Yeah, right.” Nathan replied, looking more hopeful. “What if I can’t feel pain?” He wondered, until Kelly smacked his head, disproving his theory straight away. “Stop hitting me!”

After that, the group finished burying the bodies, and made their separate ways home, wanting nothing more than a shower and to forget about this day. However, Bea couldn’t stop thinking about what Simon had said, wondering what her power might be, if she even had one.


	3. Chapter Three

Bea stood outside the community centre, staring out to the lake, when a pair of arms came around her waist from behind.

“Hey there, gorgeous.” An Irish voice whispered into her ear. Bea smiled as the man’s arms wrapped around her tighter, his lips against her neck. She twisted herself in his arms so that she was now facing him, her hands reaching straight to the back of his head. She buried her fingers deep into his curls, pulling his head forward so that their lips connected. It didn’t take long for the kiss to become heated, his tongue finding its way into her mouth, his hands going underneath her jumper. She gripped his hair tighter, tugging at the curls slightly and causing him to moan, neither one of them caring that they were still outside.

“Bea?” She woke with a start, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. “Bea, are you awake?” Her dad’s voice came from outside her shared bedroom.

“Yeah” Bea croaked.

“I’ll be leaving in 20 minutes if you want dropping off.” Bea contemplated this for a moment. If she went back to sleep quick enough, her dream would probably pick up where she left it. But is that what she wants? After all, it’s Nathan. She’s known him two days.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be down soon.” She replied. She looked over at Kelly who was still fast asleep and sighed before dragging herself out of bed.

\---

After getting out the car and waving goodbye to her father, Bea made her way to the doors of the community centre. She took a deep breath, trying not to think about what had happened here the day before. She tugged at the handle, testing whether it was locked, and to her surprise it opened. She walked into the centre and started towards the locker room when Nathan walked out the room, wearing only a t-shirt and his underwear, toothbrush hanging from his fingers. He froze when he saw Bea, and she froze when she saw what he was wearing, a slight blush spreading across her cheeks.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned.

“Erm, for the, the stuff.” She stuttered, her eyes accidentally drifting down his body. She quickly looked back at his face, hoping that he hadn’t noticed, but the smirk on his face told her that he definitely had. “Community service. That’s why I’m here. Why are you here?”

“Also, community service.” He replied, leaning against the door frame, his lips still curved into a smirk. She could tell that he was loving this.

“In your underwear?”

“All for you. D’you like?” He answered cheekily, giving her a wink.

“What’s with the toothbrush?” she replied instead, not wanting to answer that.

“Now, Bea, you’re a big girl. I’m sure you know what a toothbrush is for.”

“Why do you have it here with you? Why would you be brushing your teeth in the community centre, in your underwear? Unless…” She gasped at her sudden realisation, “you slept here!”

“Fine, yes. I slept here. Happy?” He asked, storming past her and up the stairs, his cocky demeaner quickly replaced by frustration, the conversation not going the way he wanted.

“Why?” she followed him up.

“My mum kicked me out, so I’ve been staying here, okay? It’s only for a couple days and she’ll be ringing me apologising and I’ll go back” he explained to her, pulling on his jeans.

“She kicked you out? Why?” Bea asked, feeling bad for pushing him. She’d assumed that he’d just gotten drunk and passed out here. Nathan sighed, and sat down on the mat Bea guessed he’d been sleeping on.

“Her… The man she’s… Jeremy doesn’t like me.” He admitted.

“She chose a man over her own son? That’s ridiculous.” Nathan looked up at her and shrugged. “I’m sorry.”

“S’not your fault.” He muttered. A few moments silence passed, neither one knowing what to say next, until Nathan grabbed his shoes and stood up. “Shall we?” He said, gesturing to the stairs, Bea taking the lead as the pair headed back to the locker room to get into their jumpsuits before the others arrived.

\---

Once the others were changed, they were all lined up by a woman who introduced herself as Sally, their new probation worker. She informed them that Tony and Gary had been reported missing, and while she had expected it to happen, Bea’s heart rate sped up as she convinced herself they had been caught.

“Have you seen anything unusual? Anything at all?” She asked them. No one made a move to answer, having agreed to say nothing, until Nathan broke the silence. He went into a detailed explanation of his story while the others watched him in shock. After all, he had been the one to suggest that they act as if nothing had happened. Once he finished, silence filled the room, and Sally walked away without saying another word.

“Really?” Bea asked him, smacking his arm, the others shaking their heads disapprovingly.

“It worked didn’t it? I think we got away with it.” Nathan claimed.

“Do you actually believe that or are you just really dumb?” Curtis asked him.

“I actually believe that.” Nathan responded defensively, and Curtis rolled his eyes, walking away from the rest of the group.

\---

A few hours later, the group walked across the car park carrying bags of rubbish and litter pickers, Nathan rambling on about his lack of power.

“I mean, I was there right. I should have one of these bullshit powers.” He complained.

“You can have mine. You want to hear what people are thinking about you?” Kelly asked him.

“Not so much, no. I want something good, y’know. Something from the A-list.”

“Maybe you can fly.” Simon proposed, which Alisha instantly dismissed, but Nathans eyes lit up.

“Don’t” Kelly groaned, already knowing what he was thinking.

“Maybe I’ve got a whole Spider-Man vibe going on. You know, maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit.” Nathan suggested instead.

“Yeah cos that makes perfect sense. Why would you be able to climb stuff?” Curtis questioned, annoyed at Nathan’s constant chatter.

“I don’t know. How is it you can turn back time, apparently? And weird kid can turn invisible?” Nathan responded, pointing his picker into Simons face. “It’s not like this whole situation is backed up by a wank load of logic. What about you Bea? Any ideas about yours yet?”

“Nope, no idea.” Bea shrugged. She had spent most of last night lying awake, trying to think if anything weird had happened, but she only came up blank.

“Maybe you can like control the weather or something.” Nathan started, moving so that he was stood in front of her, walking backwards. “Or jump really high. Or x-ray vision! Imagine having x-ray vision. You could see under everyone’s clothes and know what oof.” His ramble was cut off by him crashing into Curtis who had suddenly stopped walking.

“What is that?” Curtis pointed with his picker at something, or rather someone, lying completely naked in the distance. The group went up to the man with caution.

“Is he breathing?” Kelly questioned, and Alisha stepped forward to poke him with her picker.

“Hey nude guy. You’re naked!” She so helpfully informed, and the man rolled over, giving the group a full show of just how naked he was. They all groaned, Kelly and Bea quickly looking away while Alisha and Curtis laughed.

“You!” Nathan suddenly shouted, and the man jumped up, taking off running. “Hey!” Nathan called after him.

“Do you wanna tell us who that was?” Curtis asked him.

“He’s my mum’s… He lives with my mum.”

“Your stepdad has got a massive cock.” Alisha chuckled, the others joining in laughing. 

“No, Jesus! And he’s not my stepdad, all right?” Nathan retaliated, but Alisha continued to tease him.

“Why’s he naked?” Kelly interrupted.

“Well he’s obviously some kind of pervert.” Alisha asserted.

“Maybe he’s a werewolf.” Simon added, and Bea snorted at the thought.

“Twat” Nathan responded.

“It’s what happens in films.” Simon defended. “You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, then you wake up somewhere, naked.”

“He’s right” Bea supported, thoroughly amused by the situation and fully on board with the idea of Jeremy being a werewolf.

“He’s not a werewolf, all right?” Nathan declared. “This guy’s such a pussy, he needs my mum to open jars for him. I’m sure if he was a werewolf, he’d be able to open a jar of peanut butter for himself.”

“What if the storm messed him up?” Kelly pointed out, and Bea took this as further proof that Simon was correct.

“That’s bollocks. What are the chances?” Nathan contemplated looking back in the direction that Jeremy had run. The rest of the group began to walk away, heading back towards the community centre, but Bea hung back wanting to make sure that Nathan was okay. As amusing as the situation was, she could tell he was upset.

“So, that was Jeremy.” She began awkwardly, punching his arm lightly to break the tension. “You know, if the whole feud between you two is some kind of dick measuring competition, I think you should accept defeat.” She teased when he didn’t respond. 

“You don’t know that.” Nathan finally responded. “My dick could be way bigger than that.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. Did you see the size of that thing?” Bea laughed, and while Nathan wasn’t particularly happy with the topic of conversation, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you going to tell your mum?” She asked him.

“What, that the man living in her house was laying in the street butt naked? I think that’s something you’d wanna know!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah, it is.” Bea agreed.

Nathan sighed, and the pair headed back towards the community centre together, Nathan jumping straight back into his thoughts on the benefits of x-ray vision.

\---

Walking through the town centre on her way to work, Bea was lost in her thoughts. She was thinking about everyone’s power and what hers could be, but mostly, she was thinking about Nathan and his current living situation. She didn’t have the best relationship with her own mother, but at least she had her dad. Nathan hadn’t mentioned his father, but the fact that he was living in the community centre and not with him suggested that there was not much of a relationship there. Bea walked past a group of men handing out leaflets, accidentally making eye contact with one causing him to begin to move towards her.

“ _Please don’t talk to me_ ” Bea thought, not in the mood to listen to whatever he was going to try to sell her. However, before he reached her, he turned around and re-joined the rest of the group. Surprised, Bea stopped walking. He was definitely heading towards her, why would he suddenly change his mind? The situation reminded her of the mother and child yesterday and a thought crossed her mind, but Bea shook her head. There was no way she was making them do it, it was just a coincidence that they all had done exactly what she’d thought about, exactly when she thought it. Wanting to test the idea, despite knowing it was stupid, she looked at the teen who was blasting music from a tiny speaker and annoying everyone around him.

“ _Turn off the music._ ” Bea told him in her mind, and he did.

“No way.” Bea muttered. She continued to test it, telling a woman to start skipping, a man to start singing, and a child to act like a dog, which they all did. “Oh my god.” Bea laughed. She couldn’t believe it. She practically ran the rest of the way to work, excited for her shift to be over so that she could go tell Nathan she’d figured out her power.

\---

By the time Bea had finished work, she was too exhausted to go all the way back to the community centre, deciding she would tell Nathan in the morning. Arriving at the centre early once again, Bea headed straight towards the stairs leading to where Nathan was sleeping.

“Beatrice?” a woman’s voice stopped her before she got there.

“Bea” she corrected, turning to see Sally stood in the doorway to the main hall.

“Sorry, Bea. What are you doing here so early?” She questioned, and Bea shrugged in response. “Well, since you’re here, why don’t you come help us set up?” She went back into the hall before Bea had chance to reject. Bea looked up at where she knew Nathan would be and sighed, rolling her eyes before following Sally.

By the time the others had arrived, Bea had been working for just over half an hour, setting out tables and chairs and welcoming in the groups of elderly people. When Sally had thanked her for volunteering, she knew this wasn’t going to count towards her community service hours, leaving her feeling very irritated. Sally gave them their instructions, and the group hesitantly dispersed into the crowd of geriatrics. Nathan, after shouting at a sleeping man to check he wasn’t dead, began to wonder aimlessly across the room, and Bea saw this as her opportunity to speak to him.

“Nathan!” She called walking up to the man. “I need to tell you something.” She grabbed his hand, dragging him to the side of the room.

“Oh, a private conversation? Intriguing.” Nathan smirked.

“It’s about the powers. I…”

“Nathan!” Sally interrupted, walking towards the pair. Bea rolled her eyes in annoyance. She was starting to really dislike this woman. “Nathan, why don’t you go entertain Joan over there?” She suggested, pointing to a woman sat in a wheelchair. “Go on.” She prompted when Nathan made no attempt to move.

“Okay.” He replied, putting his hands up in surrender, shooting Bea an apologetic smile as he walked over to the old woman.

“Mr Jones needs a dance partner.” Sally informed her, but Bea really didn’t want to dance. She considered using her newfound power to make Sally leave her alone, but she’d already lost her opportunity to talk to Nathan.

“I’m just going to get a drink and I’ll be right over.” Bea smiled, and Sally seemed to accept this, nodding and going to find someone else to bother. Bea walked over to the drinks table but, having been the one to fill all these cups over 30 minutes earlier, she knew that orange juice was going to be warm and passed on drinking it. Nathan quickly passed the table, pushing a wheelchair with way too much speed and Bea chuckled at his antics. Noticing Sally was distracted with telling Curtis what to do, she decided to try again to speak to Nathan. However, when she looked back to him, he was watching a blonde woman who had just walked in, following her across the room, Joan completely forgotten about. She’d never considered herself a jealous person, but there was no other way to describe the feeling Bea felt watching Nathan attempt to flirt with this woman. She made her way closer to the pair so that she could discreetly eavesdrop on the conversation. 

“Volunteer? I love to volunteer.” Nathan told her.

“Is that why they gave you community service?” The woman retaliated.

“Could be, could be. I’d probably just be here anyway, you know, helping out.” Nathan responded.

“ _Where were you earlier then?_ ” Bea thought bitterly.

“Old people.” Nathan continued. “They’re so… They’re so… They’re old, you know.”

“ _Smooth._ ” Bea would’ve found this amusing, but the woman was actually smiling at him. “ _There’s no way this is working._ ”

“So, what did you do?” She asked him.

“I sexually assaulted a 90-year-old woman.” Nathan joked, and Bea was satisfied that he’d ruined any chance he might have had.

“That’s funny.” The woman deadpanned.

“She didn’t seem to think so at the time. God rest her soul.” Nathan continued, and to Bea’s surprise the woman laughed. “No, no, no. The truth is, I was just done for eating some pic ‘n’ mix.”

“Right. Of course you were.”

“ _What’s wrong with this woman? How is she into this?_ ” Bea thought, completely ignoring the fact that she too was into this. She hadn’t notice that Kelly was sat just behind the pair, also listening in on the conversation, and Bea’s thoughts.

“Pass me those sausage rolls.” The woman asked Nathan, and Bea saw an opportunity as Nathan picked up the tray of sausage rolls.

“ _Throw the tray at her._ ” Bea thought, staring at Nathan, who proceeded to do exactly that, sending the mini pastries everywhere. 

“What the hell?” The woman exclaimed, pulling pastry out of her hair.

“I’m so sorry!” Nathan apologised. “I don’t know what happened.” He went to help her pick up the food, but an elderly woman walked in front of him, wanting him to dance with her. By the time Nathan had dismissed her, the young woman was gone. Bea smirked, very pleased with herself. She turned to leave before Nathan could notice she had been listening, but she crashed straight into Kelly, who Bea hadn’t noticed had moved next to her.

“You did that, didn’t ya?” She asked her.

“Did what?” Bea feigned innocence.

“I heard you think it, and he did it. Is that you’re power? Are you, like, a mind controller or somin?” Kelly speculated.

“Sure, I guess.” Bea responded. “I don’t know, I only noticed it yesterday. I’ve not figured it out properly yet.”

“It seems like you’ve got it figured out fine.” Kelly teased. “I can’t believe you’re into Nathan.” Kelly laughed, and Bea shushed her, looking around to make sure Nathan hadn’t heard, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.

“I’m not into Nathan.” She argued.

“Oh no, you just sabotaged his flirting for the fun of it.” Kelly replied sarcastically.

“Exactly. There’s not much other entertainment around here.” Bea continued to argue, but Kelly wasn’t buying it.

“Oh, Bea. Don’t forget I can hear what you’re thinking.” Kelly smirked, walking away and leaving Bea standing alone, feeling a little embarrassed that she’d been caught.

\---

Later on, they were all gathered in the locker room. Bea considered that this was the perfect time to share the news of her power, but Curtis spoke up before she had the chance.

“Someone knows.” He claimed, looking at a piece of paper he had just removed from his locker. “They know we killed our probation worker.”

“Is this a wind up?” Kelly questioned. “Is this you?” she accused Nathan, who looked slightly offended that they believed he would be so unimaginative.

“If I was trying to wind you up, I think I’d be a little bit more creative.” He defended. “I know what film you saw last summer.” He mocked, and Bea chuckled.

“This isn’t funny.” Kelly scolded them both.

“If I wanted to freak you out, I would’ve dug up the body and stuck that in your locker.” Nathan argued.

“It’s a bit vague, they could be talking about anything.” Bea suggested.

“It was in your locker.” Alisha reasoned.

“This was meant for all of us.” Curtis maintained.

“Okay, okay. Let’s just say you’re right.” Nathan started, “they wouldn’t be dicking around, sticking notes on lockers. They would’ve gone to the police and we’d all be banged up in prison.”

“Yeah. Yeah, they’ve obviously got no actual evidence.” Bea reasoned.

“Exactly. No proof. Nothing. So, if we’re all done freaking out here, over nothing, there’s somewhere I need to be.” Nathan finished, clapping Curtis on the shoulder before leaving the room. Bea quickly followed him out.

“Nathan!” She called out, falling into step next to him when he didn’t stop walking, exiting the community centre together. “I just wanted to let you know that I figured out my power.” Nathan stopped walking at that.

“Seriously? How? What is it?”

“Mind control” She turned towards him dramatically as she said it.

“No?” Nathan argued in disbelief.

“Yeah! The past few days, anytime I’ve thought about someone doing something, they’ve done it.”

“Prove it.” Nathan challenged her. “Make me do something.”

“Like what?” She asked him.

“I don’t know. Anything.” Bea considered this for a moment and then looked at him, making her decision.

“ _Slap yourself in the face._ ” She thought, and Nathan did.

“Ow!” Nathan held his cheek where he’d just hit it, his eyes widening at Bea. “No way! That’s actually… pretty cool.” He considered.

“Thank you.” Bea felt quite proud, even though she’d not actually done anything to get this particular power. “Would you consider that A-list?”

“Potentially. Depends how good it is. As amusing as making people slap themselves can be, can you make people do absolutely anything? What’s the limit?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really tested it.” She admitted.

“Well, we’ve got to test it then. Are you free later?” He asked her, and Bea’s stomach flipped at the thought of spending time with Nathan outside of community service.

“I have work.” She remembered. “But it’s my day off tomorrow?” She suggested instead, hoping he would extend the offer.

“Great! It’s a date.” Nathan declared, walking off to head to wherever he needed to be. Even though she knew it was just an expression and he didn’t mean an actual date, Bea couldn’t contain her excitement.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Brief mention of death/suicide

The next morning, they all stood in the community centre hall, Nathan showing them a picture on his phone.

“It’s him. It’s the guy who lives with my mum. He was out there last night, this is evidence.” Nathan explained, though neither Bea nor Kelly could tell what exactly it was he showing them.

“What am I looking at?” Kelly inquired.

“Cock, anus, bit of ball sack.” Nathan pointed to the screen, which Bea and Kelly squinted at, attempting to decipher the image.

“Can’t see it.” Bea stated.

“It’s from a low angle!” Nathan argued.

“Where were you last night?” Kelly questioned, and Nathan looked panicked, going over to show Simon his picture instead of answering. Simon also didn’t understand the picture, but he looked thrilled to be included in the conversation.

“Look, this guy is living with my mum. We’ve got to do something.” Nathan exclaimed.

“Like what?” Kelly asked.

“Can you get me a gun?” Nathan proposed.

“I ain’t getting you a gun.” // “She can’t get a gun.” Kelly and Bea answered at the same time.

“You can get a gun off the internet.” Simon supplied, and Bea noticed that he had been filming the whole conversation.

“What’s the plan though? Are you going to shoot him?” Bea questioned. “I don’t think your mum will be happy if you shot him.”

“What if we go round there tonight, talk to him? You can use your little power on him, make him go away.” He suggested. 

“I can’t do that.” Bea answered.

“Why not?”

“It’s not my business. I can’t break them up, I don’t even know them.” Bea reasoned. The sad pout that Nathan gave her almost made her change her mind, but it felt wrong, she couldn’t do it.

“Anyone else?” Nathan addressed the rest of the room, but no one answered. Nathan put his hands on his hips and scoffed. “It’s like that, is it? So much for being united by a horrific, life-changing shared experience.” His attempt at guilting them not working. Though it was slightly working on Bea, but she held strong. “You know? The situation?” He continued, to no avail. “We killed our probation worker!” He shouted, and everyone jumped to shush him.

“I’ll come with you.” Simon finally offered, putting his phone back in his pocket. “You know, if you want someone to go with you. I’ll come.”

“I’m not being funny but, me and you, buddying up, kicking ass. I’m just not feeling it. But hey, lovely thought. Cheers.” Nathan replied, looking around the room at the others before sitting down, sulking. Simon quickly left the room looking hurt, and Bea felt bad for him, as well as feeling a bit guilty for not helping Nathan despite how desperate he seemed.

By the time they had finished for the day and Bea was changed out of her jumpsuit, Nathan had already left. She knew that he had to go see his mum and that he was probably not happy with her after earlier, so she wasn’t surprised that he had skipped on their “date”. But it still hurt her. Disappointed, she left the community centre to head back home.

\---

The elderly group had the hall hired out again the next day, and the group were all awkwardly dancing, besides Nathan, who was sat sulking. Bea kept trying to look at him over the shoulder of the man she was dancing with. She hoped everything had gone okay with his mum, but from the look of his face she guessed it hadn’t. She wanted to go talk to him, but she was worried that he was still upset with her for refusing to use her power on Jeremy. The man Bea was dancing with began turning them in a circle, and by the time they had gone the whole way around, Nathan had moved. Scanning the room, she saw him just as he left through the back door. She shared a concerned look with Kelly, who appeared to be the only other person who had noticed his disappearance. Kelly noticed the disappointed look of the elderly woman who had been heading towards Nathan before he ran out and went over to check that she was okay. Bea searched the room for Sally. Seeing that she was distracted, Bea excused herself from the man she had been dancing with and followed Nathan out the door.

After wandering around for a short while, Bea finally found Nathan sat under the flyover, walking over and taking a seat next to him.

“Are you okay?” She asked him.

“I’m fine.” He lied, and Bea huffed.

“How did things go with your mum?” She tried again.

“Wonderful.” He replied sarcastically, and Bea began to feel really annoyed.

“Fine, then. Whatever. Don’t tell me.” She sulked.

“You’re not going to use your power to force me to tell you?” He questioned, his annoyance from yesterday’s refusal still evident in his tone. “Or is that also against your morals?”

“Actually, yes, it is. If you want to be annoyed at me for wanting to stay out of things that aren’t my business, then fine.” She told him, trying not to get upset. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much about this boy’s opinion of her, and as ridiculous as it made her feel, she hated the thought of him not liking her.

“Well, stay out of my business then. You keep finding a way to work yourself into that.” He argued.

“I was just trying to be nice. No offence, but you don’t seem to have a load of people to talk to.”

“Well. Neither do you.” He retaliated.

“Yeah. I don’t. But I’m trying to change that.” She confessed, looking at the floor. “It’s just hard when you’ve been dragged across the country and your stepsister, who you thought you could be really close to, decides that you are the bane of her existence and treats you like you don’t exist.” Nathan looked at her, feeling guilty. He was doing a great job at upsetting women this week.

“My mum hit me.” He admitted, taking out a pack of cigarettes and placing one between his lips.

“What?” Bea looked up at him, surprised by the sudden admittance.

“Because I punched Jeremy.”

“Oh.”

“He’s not a werewolf, by the way. He just thinks he’s a dog sometimes.” Nathan informed her. “Mum knows, but apparently it doesn’t bother her.”

“Wow.” Bea didn’t know how to respond to that. “Is it a storm thing? Or just a… Jeremy thing?”

“Storm.”

“Bit of a rubbish power.” Bea laughed.

“Oh shit, I forgot. We were going to test your power.” Nathan exclaimed, sitting forward.

“It’s fine. You’ve had an eventful couple of days.”

“What about tomorrow?” He asked her, and she smiled at him, glad that he appeared to have forgiven her, and that he also still wanted to hang out with her.

“Sounds good.” She replied, and Nathan returned the smile.

“Hey. What happened to you two?” Curtis’ voice came from behind Bea, Nathan looking up to see the rest of the group walking towards them, now changed into their orange jumpsuits and back to litter picking. 

“I will not be in a room where that song is playing. Line in the sand my friend.” Nathan responded.

“Some old woman was looking for you.” Kelly informed him and Nathan looked uncomfortable. “You shagged her?” Kelly exclaimed.

“Yeah. Yeah, nice one. I gave her right good seeing to.” Nathan tried to joke the comment off, but Kelly’s reaction told everyone that he was lying. Soon they were all mocking him, Nathan jumping up to defend himself. Bea stayed seated though, confused about when this could’ve happened and why he would do that.

“She didn’t look like that when we started! Remember that Ruth, from Tuesday? Beautiful, yeah? That wrinkly old bint… that’s her!” Nathan explained. Bea’s stomach dropped at this, realising that this must’ve happened yesterday, when he was supposed to be with her. “It was the storm. It made her young again.” The confession did nothing to prevent Alisha from continuing to mock him, her and Curtis carrying on laughing at his expense. Nathan walked off, Kelly chasing after him apologising for spilling his secret. Bea stood up, debating whether to go after him. However, the jealousy from the other day was back, even if she did turn out to be an old woman, so Bea walked the opposite way deciding she’d had enough of all of this for one day.

\---

With no work and no community service, Bea could actually lie in. She had text Nathan and agreed a time to meet him at the community centre so that they could test the strength of her power and maybe try and figure out what his could be. An hour before the arranged time, Bea got up and began digging through her wardrobe to find a decent outfit.

“If you don’t like him, why do you care so much about what you look like?” Kelly questioned from her place in bed.

“I don’t” Bea defended.

“Hurry and pick something then.” To prove her point, Bea grabbed the first thing she saw, a simple collared dress, and showed it to Kelly before throwing it onto her bed. She found a jumper to throw on top and headed to the bathroom to get ready. 

She text Nathan to inform him of her arrival, but after receiving no response, she ventured into the community centre to look for him. Not finding him in the building, or on the roof, she text him again, taking a seat on a plastic chair. Tapping her nail on the back of her phone while waiting for reply, she tried not to overthink the situation. As the minutes went on, Nathan now 20 minutes late, Bea decided to leave, not sure whether she was more upset or angry. However, just as she stood to leave the door swung open and Nathan rushed in.

“Hey! Sorry, I had to go see my mum, sort things out.” He explained.

“Oh. It’s fine.” She told him, though she wasn’t completely fine. He could’ve at least text her to let her know. “How did it go?”

“Good. Everything’s smoothed over. All sorted.”

“That’s great!” Bea’s instinct was to hug him, but realising how awkward that could be, she opted for lightly hitting his arm, which was in fact no less awkward.

“Yeah.” Nathan chuckled, returning the gesture, and Bea inwardly cringed at the exchange.

“Does that mean you’re moving back in?” She asked.

“Ah. No. She’s got her own life to live. She doesn’t need me hanging around.” Not wanting to discuss it anymore, Nathan gestured to the door to encourage Bea to start moving, but she didn’t.

“What does that mean? You’re homeless, you have nowhere else to go.” Bea argued.

“I have here. And I’m fine with it.” Nathan countered, once again gesturing for Bea to start moving.

“This isn’t a home though.” She continued, still stood in the same spot.

“Bea! Can you just drop it?” Nathan snapped, “Jesus, you can be so annoying.” He complained, taking the lead in leaving the community centre. Bea’s stomach dropped as she watched him walk away. She suddenly didn’t want to do this anymore, but not wanting Nathan to know she was upset, she followed him out anyway, thinking of what excuse she could use to go home. Holding the door open for her, Nathan could tell that she was upset.

“I’m sorry.” He apologised, feeling guilty.

“It’s fine.” She replied, continuing to walk and not looking at him.

“It’s not fine, you’re upset.” Nathan placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking.

“I’m not.” She protested.

“You are. I’m sorry I called you annoying.” He apologised again. “I just need you to stop asking so many questions all the time. Okay?”

“Okay.” Bea nodded, forcing a smile, which Nathan returned. They continued walking towards town in silence.

\---

By the time they had gotten to town, the tension had pretty much lifted, Nathan having broken the silence with some wild and probably made up story about a group of girls all fighting for his attention. They sat on the church wall, watching as people passed by.

“So,” Nathan began, “Who’s going to be our first target?”

“Hmm.” Bea searched the crowd. “Him?” She asked, pointing to a businessman who appeared to be having a very angry phone conversation.

“Oh, perfect!” Nathan exclaimed. “Can you make him strip?”

“What?” Bea turned to look at him. “Why?” She questioned.

“I don’t know.” Nathan shrugged. “It’ll be funny.” Bea rolled her eyes, but seeing the excitement in his, she went along with it. The man began stripping off his suit until he was standing in his underwear, looking confused as to why he’d just done that.

“Brilliant!” Nathan laughed next to her, and she watched him, smiling. “Wait, wait. The lamppost! Make him pole dance!” He insisted. She debated this for a moment, already feeling bad for the man’s embarrassment, but seeing Nathan so amused, she went for it. As the man started spinning around the post, Nathan continued to laugh harder, Bea joining in. She realised that in the week she’d spent with him this was the first time she’d heard him laugh properly. In that moment all of her morals went out the window, and she knew she’d do anything to make him laugh like this again.

A few hours later they were sat in the park, hip to hip, leaning against a tree. They sat in a comfortable silence sharing a bag of chips, which Bea may have used her power to get out of paying for. They had discovered that her power worked on everyone and, so far, she could make them do anything, but it only worked if she could see them. The effects stopped as soon as they were out of her sight.

“This was fun.” Nathan said.

“Yeah.” Bea replied, smiling to herself as she ate. 

“We should do this again.” He suggested, flicking his eyes to the girl next to him to take in her reaction.

“We should.” She agreed.

Once the chips were gone, neither of them made any attempt to move, enjoying the sun and each other’s company.

“So, you and Kelly then. Seems tense.” Nathan spoke.

“Yeah. I don’t know what I did, but she really doesn’t like me.”

“Ah, she’s probably jealous.”

“Of what?” Bea turned so that she was sat facing him, watching him curiously. 

“You know.” He shrugged. “You’ve got that whole girl next door vibe going on.”

“What? No, I don’t.” She protested.

“You do. The shy, smart, pretty girl who everyone likes.” Nathan explained, and Bea shook her head, trying not to think about the fact that he just called her pretty. “You’ve probably got your whole life planned out, you’ll probably go to university, find a nice husband and a boring job. Kids. You know, all the standard stuff.” Bea didn’t respond, because he was right, that was where her life was heading, even if she wasn’t sure that its actually what she wanted. “And, no offence to Kelly, but she’s not all that likable. And even if she is smart enough for uni, no one would believe that she is. She probably feels like she’s going to live in your shadow. Spending family gatherings being compared to perfect, little Bea.” He finished, and Bea sat stunned by the implication. She was far from perfect, but what he was saying made sense.

“When did you get so perceptive?” She questioned in attempt to move the conversation away from her.

“A-Level psychology.” He stated. “I may have failed, but some things stuck.”

“What about you then? What are your plans for the future?” She asked, poking at his leg.

“Oh, you know, lots of sex, lots of drugs, probably dead by 25.” He answered, smirking at her.

“Jesus Christ.” Bea responded.

“No, he came back and I don’t quite fancy that. Although it could be fun actually.” He suddenly gasped, and Bea already knew what he was thinking. 

“We’re not going to kill you and see if you come back.” She told him, his face falling with disappointment.

“Why not? Would you miss me?” He teased.

“Hmm, maybe. But mostly I don’t want to get done for murder.”. 

“Oh, right. I see how it is.” He pouted, feigning hurt. Bea’s phone buzzed, a message from her father, and she sighed.

“I should probably get going.” She told him, standing up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yep.” Nathan responded, watching as she walked away. “See ya.” Bea turned to wave goodbye, smiling to the boy as she left. Despite how the day had started, it had actually turned out pretty great, and Bea couldn’t remember the last time she felt this happy.

\---

“I told you there’d be other people who got messed up by the storm. And you didn’t even believe me.” Kelly teased Nathan. They were all stood in the locker room, getting ready for another day of community service. Despite a whole weekend having passed since the events, the group had not let go of Nathan’s Ruth and Jeremy incidents.

“Yeah, well, I was wrong, wasn’t I? There’s a hurricane of weird shit out there.” Nathan responded.

“We need to be ready for when they come after us.” Simon suddenly exclaimed, slamming his locker door shut. 

“What’re you talking about?” Kelly questioned, echoing everyone’s thoughts.

“The other people who got caught up in the storm.” Simon explained.

“Why would they come after us?” Curtis asked.

“Because that’s what people do.”

“Yeah, well, if they do, we’ll just tell them it was all your fault.” Nathan responded, and everyone got back to getting ready, until Nathan spoke up again. “You know that note you found in your locker? I think it was talking about the probation worker.” Everyone gathered around his locker to see what he was looking at, finding a missing poster for Tony taped inside, the words I KNOW written across it. Bea’s stomach dropped; she knew it was all too easy.

“Well, shit.” She exclaimed. 


	5. Chapter Five

“Someone knows we killed him.” Kelly stated, as the group finished getting ready.

“Do you think it could be Sally?” Simon asked, and Bea supposed he could be right. She did always seem to be lurking around and watching them, and she has full access to all the lockers.

“Who’s Sally?” Curtis questioned.

“The probation worker.” Simon informed him, surprised that no one else seemed to remember her name. 

“Ooh, Sally.” Nathan taunted. “Why d’you know her name?”

“She told us.”

“She did.” Bea supported, sensing that Nathan was going to continue teasing him for remembering it.

“Well, you’re a twat.” He retorted instead. “Because Sally didn’t show up until the day after we killed the other probation worker. I suppose you know his name too?”

“Tony.” Simon answered, much to Nathan’s amusement.

“Do you love him?”

“This is serious!” Bea proclaimed, smacking Nathan’s arm. “Maybe we should go to the police or something?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea Bea. Just draw attention to ourselves? For someone who’s supposed to be so smart, you can be a right idiot, y’know?” Kelly replied, rolling her eyes at her stepsister. Bea tried to think of a response but came up blank, knowing that Kelly was probably right.

“If I’m invisible, I can see if anyone else puts anything in our lockers.” Simon offered.

“Sounds like a plan. You alright with that, yeah?” Curtis asked Alisha, not so subtly checking her out as she finished applying her make up in the mirror.

“Works for me.” She answered him.

“Go on then.” Curtis addressed Simon while still watching Alisha. “Turn invisible.” Everyone turned to watch Simon, who looked uncomfortable being the centre of attention.

“I can’t do it when everyone’s watching me.” He admitted.

“Well that’s, er, really impressive.” Alisha remarked sarcastically, turning to leave the room, the rest following her out and leaving Simon on his own.

\---

Outside the locker room they were met with a volunteer who had them all carry bags of donated clothing into the hall to be added to the giant pile that was already in there. He informed them that it was their job to sort the clothes, explaining the categories though no one was particularly paying attention to him. Bea’s mind was still on the poster as she threw the bag she was carrying onto the pile.

“Okay, so, if you have any questions, just ask.” The volunteer said and Nathan’s hand shot up.

“If a bear and a shark had a fight, who would win?” He asked, and the man stared at him.

“If you’ve got any relevant questions, just ask.” He responded, walking away from the group. “Oh, and if it’s on dry land, I’d bet on the bear.” He turned, answering the question.

“If it’s in water, I’d bet on the bear. Have you seen them fish?” Bea muttered.

“Oh, shut up.” Kelly retorted, shoving Bea into the pile of clothing. Kelly and Nathan looked at each other, seemingly having the same idea, before running and jumping into the pile, landing on either side of Bea. The group instantly began messing around, trying on various pieces of clothing or throwing them at each other. Suffice to say, not much organising was getting done.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Nathan called, getting everyone’s attention as he pulled on a pair of ski goggles. “Who am I?” He asked them, proceeding to sing U2’s One Love. “C’mon!” He exclaimed when no one answered. “Okay, I’ll give you a clue. I’m an annoying cunt.”

“Yeah, we know that.” Alisha remarked.

“Bono?” Bea guessed, laughing at Alisha’s comment.

“Yes!” Nathan cried, pointing at Bea. “Someone with taste.” Before anyone else had a chance to respond, the door swung open and Sally walked in with a young woman who Bea recognised to be Jodi. The reason Kelly, and subsequently her, were even here for.

“Uh oh.” Bea uttered, knowing that this was not going to end well.

“Who’s that?” Nathan whispered.

“That’s the girl I had the fight with.” Kelly informed. “I’ve got to do some restorative justice bollocks with her.”

“Kelly? C’mon.” Sally called over, gesturing for her to follow them into the office. Kelly rolled her eyes before standing up to go join them. As the office door closed, Nathan pulled out a pair of roller-skates from the pile, his eyes lighting up with joy as he showed them to Bea.

“One each, race across the hall?” He asked her, holding one of the skates towards her.

“Oh, you’re on.” She exclaimed, grabbing the skate and standing up. They both stood next to each other wearing one skate, waiting for Curtis to wave the shirt he had picked up to use as a flag. As soon as he did, the pair pushed off with their skate-less foot, Nathan taking an early lead due to having much longer legs. Overestimating her balance abilities, Bea went straight over, grabbing Nathan’s arm and pulling him down with her.

“Ahhh” Nathan screamed as they went down. “Sabotage!” He called out as he got back to his feet and carried on skating, laughing at Bea who scrambled to get back up.

“Take the roller-skates off!” Sally suddenly called from the office doorway, surprising both Bea and Nathan, who quickly stopped and looked at her. “Now!” She shouted, and they did, pouting. They threw the skates back onto the pile, collapsing on top of the clothes.

“I definitely won.” Nathan claimed, turning his head to look at the girl lying next to him.

“Oh yeah. I was not as good at that as I thought I would be.” She looked back, watching him as he smiled at her, the sun streaming through the window highlighting the various shades of green in his eyes. “ _He’s so pretty._ ” Bea admired, quickly looking away, embarrassed by her own thoughts. “ _It’s a good job Kelly isn’t here._ ”

At the sound of shouting coming from the office, Bea and Nathan sat up, the door slamming open and Jodi stormed out.

“You slut whore!” She shouted at Kelly, as Sally pushed her towards the exit.

“Shut up, you twat!” Kelly retaliated, throwing a chair out of the office and following it out. 

“They should’ve locked you up like they were going to before your sister got involved.” Jodi called back as Sally finally got her to the door of the centre. Kelly turned to look at Bea confused.

“She’s not my sister!” She shouted back to Jodi, even though she was already out the door. “What the fuck does she mean Bea?” She exclaimed, heading towards where Bea was sat.

“I don’t know.” Bea quickly defended, standing up and backing away as Kelly approached her.

“Yes, you do!”

“I… well… I just…” Bea stuttered, not sure how to explain it and scared that Kelly was going to attack her just as she had Jodi moments before.

“Spit it out Bea.” Kelly yelled.

“They were going to put you in jail, Kelly.” She shouted back before taking a deep breath. “But they said the damage wasn’t enough for two sentences, so they needed to know if it was just you or if I was also involved. I told them I helped.” She explained, looking down at her hands as she nervously pulled at the zip of her jumpsuit. Kelly stared at her in shock, before turning and storming out. “Kelly!” Bea called out, making to follow her out.

“Don’t follow me!” Kelly shouted, and Bea stopped walking, standing in the middle of the hall watching Kelly as she left, slamming the door behind her. The room was silent, no one knowing what to say. 

“I think that went pretty well.” Curtis remarked, breaking the silence. Bea turned and walked the opposite way to which Kelly just left, heading for the locker room. She went straight to the bathroom, entering one of the stalls and sitting on one of the toilets, pulling her knees up to her chest. She was completely unaware that Simon had seen her walk in and followed her to the stall, watching her as she breathed deeply, attempting to keep the tears back. He was about to turn visible to comfort her when he heard Nathan’s voice shouting her from the locker room.

“Bea?” He called entering the bathroom and Simon moved away, returning to his seat by the lockers. When Nathan approached the stall, the tears had already started rolling down her cheeks and he stood in the doorway, unsure what do. “Are you alright?” He asked her, even though it was evident she wasn’t.

“Yeah” She choked, and Nathan rolled his eyes, annoyed at himself for asking such a stupid question. He moved to kneel in front of her, placing a hand on her knee. She lowered her legs, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. Nathan awkwardly wrapped his arms around her back, holding her as she cried into his shoulder. Completely unsure what to do or say in this situation, he just let her cry as he held her.

“Sorry.” She sniffed, pulling away and wiping her eyes with her hands. Nathan grabbed some tissue from next to them and handed it to her.

“It’s fine.” He smiled softly. “It’ll be alright.” He tried to comfort.

“Yeah.” Bea replied.

“I’m not very good at this. Sorry.” He apologised.

“Yeah.” Bea chuckled, “Thanks for trying though.” Nathan nodded in response. He was about to stand up when they heard Alisha and Curtis enter the locker room.

“I’m always thinking of you. I just want to be with you.” Curtis moaned, as the pair made their way towards the bathroom.

“I know you do. Come on.” Alisha giggled. They entered the stall next to the one Bea and Nathan were in, who stared at each other in surprise. Curtis and Alisha moaned as they made out and Nathan clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. Bea pointed to the door, pushing Nathan’s shoulder to tell him to get out, but he shook his head. Bea scowled at him as the couple next door got more intense.

“Go” Bea mouthed, shoving Nathan again who rolled his eyes and quietly stood up. The two tiptoed out of the bathroom as silently as they could, running out the locker room and laughing when they were safely in the hallway.

“Oh my god!” Nathan laughed.

“I know!” Bea replied, covering her face as she laughed, feeling second-hand embarrassment for the pair who were completely unaware they’d been heard. As their laughter died down Nathan watched her, opening his mouth to say something but unable to find the right words.

“C’mon.” He spoke instead, nodding towards the hall. He slung his arm around Bea’s shoulder, leading her back to where the pile of clothes sat, still needing sorted. 

\---

Bea and Nathan had made a good dent into the pile of clothes by the time that Curtis had returned, Alisha no-where to be found and Kelly only showing up at the end of the day to change out of her jumpsuit.

“Hurray! It’s the starlet of justice!” Nathan declared as they walked into the locker room.

“I was only saying that the lad she used to go out with was a dick. I was only being nice.” Kelly ranted. She hadn’t spoken to Bea, and Bea knew better than to try to speak to her first.

“Oh yeah, you were being lovely. Right up until you threw the chair at her.” Nathan countered.

“Don’t be doing that shit around me.” Curtis suddenly exclaimed, and everyone turned to see Simon standing next to his locker. “You’ve been in here all day?” He realised and Simon nodded.

“What happened?” Kelly asked. Bea and Nathan subtly made eye contact, both having the realisation that Simon had witnessed everything that had happened in that room, that he knew about Curtis and Alisha, and he knew that they also knew.

“Nothing.” He responded, staring at Curtis. “No-one came in.” His eyes flicked to Nathan and Bea, and then back to continue staring at Curtis. Kelly, being the only one unaware that anything had happened in the time she was gone, rolled her eyes at the disappointing reveal. As everyone finished getting changed and left the locker room, Bea hung back, not wanting to run into Kelly on the walk home, not really wanting to go home at all knowing that Kelly would be there and be able to hear her thoughts while she got nothing in return.

“Hey, not left yet?” Nathan asked leaning against the lockers next to Bea.

“No, don’t want to run into Kelly. Which is hard when you share a room.”

“Well, you could always stay here.” He suggested, smirking mischievously.

“I can’t.” Bea replied, though the thought of staying here all night with Nathan was tempting, especially compared to the alternative.

“Why not? You’re an adult, you can do whatever you want.” He argued. Bea contemplated this. He’s right, she was an adult, there was nothing stopping her from staying out if she wanted. And she didn’t have a curfew, she’s never needed one.

“Yeah, okay, fuck it, I’ll stay here.” She announced. 

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah! I don’t want to sit in a room all night with someone who refuses to talk to me. And I’m nineteen, I can do whatever I want.”

“Hell yeah!” Nathan exclaimed, lifting his hand to high five her, which she returned. “I like rebellious Bea.” He told her, threading his fingers through hers before she could pull her hand away, and leading her out the locker room. Her heart rate had significantly increased, and she wasn’t sure if it was due to her “rebellious act” or the fact that Nathan was holding her hand.

\---

They sat on the ledge where Nathan had been sleeping, their legs dangling over the edge, staring out to the empty community centre, a stolen pack of beers sat between them.

“So, you didn’t even actually commit a crime then.” Nathan spoke.

“No.” Bea sighed.

“Have you ever done anything bad?” He questioned, and Bea really had to think about it. She hadn’t really, but she didn’t really want Nathan to know this. “I guess not.” He laughed after she had been silent for a while, trying to come up with an answer.

“No, I have!” She insisted, but Nathan shook his head, not believing her.

"What then? Pray tell”

“I… well I… there was one time I… Fine.” She gave up, admitting the truth. “I’ve not done anything. Call me a loser, nerd, werido whatever.” She sulked, folding her arms over the railing and resting her chin on top of them. Nathan chuckled.

“Yeah.” He responded. “You are.”

“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes, annoyed that he had actually agreed but not really surprised.

“We can fix that though.” He stated, taking a drink of his beer. 

“What?”

“I’ve already got you out past 10pm. Drinking beer.” He gasped, picking up the pack of cans to support his point. “We’ll have you vandalising the city and punching girls in Argos in no time.” Bea shook her head, not too sure if he was joking or not. Though if he was being serious, she knew that she probably would do it if that’s what he wanted, a thought that was both scary and exhilarating.

“First things first.” Nathan said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. “Here.” He offered the open pack for Bea to take one, but she only stared at it.

“No thanks.” She replied and Nathan sighed.

“Bea, how’re you going to be badass if you don’t smoke?” He asked, once again offering the open packet towards her. She huffed and took one out, examining it as Nathan pulled out a lighter. He lit the cigarette and nodded at her encouragingly as she placed it between her lips. As soon as she inhaled, she began to choke, much to Nathan’s amusement.

“That’s disgusting.” She cried once her coughing fit had eased. She passed the cigarette back to Nathan who continued to laugh at her. “I’m never doing that again. I don’t understand why anyone would want to do that.” Nathan shrugged, placing it between his own lips. Bea watched as he effortlessly inhaled, admiring how good he looked when he did it, and she understood slightly why someone might want to do it. Nathan knew he was being watched, and made a show of finishing the cigarette, smirking at the knowledge that he was able to hold her attention like this.

\---

Bea woke the next morning with an arm draped over her body and a face pressed into her back. They had stayed up until early hours in the morning, finishing the beers and discussing

Bea’s criminal training, eventually falling asleep fully clothed. She guessed that Nathan was still asleep based on the heavy breathing and the fact that he was still this close to her. It pained her to have to move but she desperately needed the toilet. Carefully as to not wake him, Bea lifted his arm from her waist and shuffled off the mat. She checked whether he had been disturbed, finding him still peacefully asleep, and descended the stairs.

Already changed into their jumpsuits, Nathan and Bea sat on the roof the community centre waiting for the arrival of the rest of the group, finishing off the breakfast that Bea had fetched from a café down the road. Curtis was the first to arrive, going to lie on the vacant bench without a word.

“You alright?” Bea asked him as he collapsed onto it.

“I’m fine.” He answered gruffly, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

“I’ve been thinking.” Nathan announced, dropping his empty cup to the floor.

“Uh oh.” Bea quipped.

“About my power. Maybe I can move stuff with my mind.”

“Telekinesis?” Curtis spoke, sitting up with intrigue. “Why do you think that?”

“I dunno. It’ll be cool.” Nathan responded, getting up to grab an empty beer bottle. “I bet I can smash this bottle. Right, everyone shut up so I can focus.”

“This is never going to work.” Curtis sighed, lying back down.

“Shush.” Nathan told him, closing his eyes to get in the zone. Bea watched him in amusement having no doubt that this wasn’t going to work. He opened his eyes, focusing on the bottle in front of him, placing his fingers on the side of his head as though that would help him channel the power. When the bottle did nothing, Nathan started straining, desperate for it to work, and Bea started to get concerned that he was going to hurt himself. The door bursting open startled them as Simon walked through. 

“We’ve got a problem.” He declared.

“Will you shut up?” Nathan yelled at him. “I nearly had it.”

“What’s he doing?” Simon questioned.

“He’s trying to smash the bottle with his mind.” Curtis answered nonchalantly. The three watched Nathan has he continued in his attempt. “I think he’s gonna shit himself.” Curtis observed, as Nathan’s straining increased.

“Oh, bullshit.” Nathan suddenly burst out, kicking the box he had the bottle balanced on. Bea ducked as the bottle flew over her head, landing at Simons feet.

“We’ve got a problem.” Simon repeated.

“I’ve got a power, I know it. I can feel it in my balls.” Nathan complained, ignoring what Simon had said.

“What’s the matter?” Bea asked him as Nathan continued to go on about his power and his balls.

“The flyover they’re…” He tried to tell them over Nathan’s chatter. “Will you listen to me?” He yelled, clearly panicked, but Nathan continued to ignore him.

“Nathan!” Bea shouted, and he stopped talking to look at her.

“What?”

“Simon’s trying to tell us something.”

“And?” He argued.

“They’re gonna dig up the bodies.” Simon finally got out, and they all looked at him in shock, none of them expecting that to have been the problem. “They’re building an environmental monitoring station under the flyover.” He told them, which none of them understood.

“They’re building a what?” Nathan asked.

“It’s to measure the carbon monoxide from the flyover.” He explained when he realised no one had any idea what he meant. “When they dig the foundations, they’ll find the bodies.” They all stared at him, processing the information, fear settling into Bea’s stomach.


	6. Chapter 6

Back to organising the pile of donated clothes, the group caught Alisha up with the situation, discussing what to do.

“We need to move them.” Curtis suggested in a hushed tone, worried that someone might overhear.

“A couple of questions. How? Where? Are you out of your mind!?” Nathan contended.

“If we leave them, they’ll find them.” Curtis argued. 

“Oh, whereas digging them up and wondering around with them, that’s a real low risk strategy.” Nathan snapped back. The pair continued to bicker, Bea starting to get concerned that they were bieng too loud. She hadn’t been able to think straight since Simon had told them.

“Oh, you got a better idea? Let’s hear it.” Curtis questioned him, assuming that Nathan didn’t have any ideas.

“Yeah, I do have a better idea. Why don’t you, you know…” He whistled, implying that Curtis use his power to rewind time, “… and stop us killing the probation worker in the first place. You all have these powers and none of you seem to want to use them for anything useful.” Bea knew this was targeted at her as much as it was Curtis, but she was too panicked to care about the dig right now. She had been trying to think if there was any way that she could use her power to help the situation, but so far, she hadn’t come up with anything. She also agreed with Nathan, they wouldn’t even be in this situation if Curtis had just used his power a week ago when they first killed Tony.

“Show me how it works, and I’ll do it.” Curtis argued.

“We need a car.” Simon offered.

“Have you got a car?” Nathan questioned, once again shooting down another suggestion as Simon shook his head in response. “Great, maybe we should call a cab.” He supplied sarcastically. Then the door opened, and Kelly walked in, adorning large sunglasses and a pink cap. Under the stress of the situation, Bea hadn’t even registered that Kelly had been missing.

“Where’ve you been?” Alisha questioned, and Kelly pulled the cap further down, looking almost nervous, which Bea found highly suspicious.

“I had to go Doctor’s.” She answered evasively.

“Yeah, well while you were getting your smear test, big shock, we found out the bodies are about to be dug up.” Nathan informed her, Kelly finally looking up in shock.

“Can you steal a car?” Alisha asked her, at the same time as Curtis.

“Can you all fuck off?” She snapped back, storming over to a table and pushing all the shoes that had been sorted off it before taking a seat on top. Bea had hoped she would’ve calmed down by this morning so that she could have the chance to talk to her about what had happened, but apparently not.

“Alright, touchy. C’mon, we’re a bunch of young offenders and not one of us knows how to steal a car? That’s pathetic.” Nathan stood, placing his hands on his hips.

“Look, I’ll borrow my dad’s car.” Alisha offered.

“Cause you’re banned from driving so that makes sense.” Curtis argued.

“If we get pulled over with bodies in the car, being banned from driving will be the least of our concerns.” Bea retaliated standing up to join the rest of them. It was the best solution they had.

“So, sorted then.” Nathan settled, but Curtis shook his head, to which Alisha scoffed.

“You’re like whiny little bitch!” She complained.

“Guys, guys, guys.” Nathan interrupted, “We need to work together. Think of it as a team building exercise. I’m feeling this!” He declared, placing an arm around both of their shoulders. Neither shared Nathan’s enthusiasm, shaking him off them and walking away in opposite directions leaving Nathan stood alone, pouting. Bea looked at where Kelly was still sat on top of the table and, taking a deep breath, walked over.

“Fuck off, Bea.” Kelly spat, sliding off the table and pushing past her, leaving the room. Bea sighed and turned around, Nathan offering her an apologetic smile.

\---

Once it had gotten dark, they all met in the car park, packing shovels into the boot of Alisha’s dad’s car.

“So, what do we do with them when we dig em up?” Alisha asked, their planning earlier not having made it past the digging up part.

“We weigh em down and toss em in the lake.” Curtis offered.

“We do that, and you know what happens next week? The council are all like “lets drag the lake.” So predictable.” Nathan complained, annoyed at his own made-up scenario.

“So, we bury them somewhere else?” Alisha suggested, but Nathan wasn’t on board with this idea either.

“Enough with the digging and burying already.” He moaned.

“You come up with something then.” Curtis told him.

“We boil them in a bath of sulphuric acid, serial killer style.” He proposed, but everyone started to climb into the car, ignoring the suggestion. Bea, slightly embarrassed that her mind had gone to the same place as Nathan’s, climbed into the last vacant back seat without saying a word, leaving Simon stood outside the car.

“There’s not enough seats.” He pointed out, leaning against the car door to speak to the five sat inside. Everyone looked around, trying to think of a solution.

“Bea will have to get back out and sit on your lap.” Alisha told them, and Bea shook her head, Simon looking just as uncomfortable with the situation. “Or Curtis’s, or Nathan’s, whoever! You’re the smallest just pick one.” At the suggestion of him, Nathan turned around to look at her, raising his eyebrows and grinning at her. Bea sighed, got back out the car and opened the passenger door ready to climb onto Nathan’s lap.

“Hang on.” She spoke up as Nathan reached out to help her in. “If you slide your chair back I could probably fit on the floor.” Nathan looked at her hesitantly, preferring the idea of her sitting on him, but when everyone agreed, he rolled his eyes and pushed his chair back as far as it could go. Bea got in, sitting on the floor with her legs up against her chest, Nathan’s knees on either side of her head.

“We can store them in the community centre until we decide what to do with them.” Simon proposed once everyone was settled.

“Oh, great, the community centre! Cos they have a special room for storing rotting corpses.” Curtis answered sarcastically, ever the optimist.

“There’s a disused storage room upstairs.” Nathan offered. “I’ve got a key.”

“Why have you got a key?” Kelly questioned and Nathan looked slightly panicked as everyone watched him expectantly.

“I nicked them because I’m living in the community centre, okay? Big secret revealed.” He confessed. Bea turned to look up at him, placing a hand on his knee as an attempt to comfort him. When no one responded he tried to move the conversation on, and Alisha started the car, pulling away. 

\---

After over an hour of digging, Bea sat on the pile of dirt, way past caring about getting mud on her jeans. The smell had been getting progressively worse the further down they dug, Curtis and Nathan, being the only ones still stood inside the hole digging, being the most affected by it.

“We must be getting close.” Curtis announced as Nathan started violently gagging.

“I’m fine.” He declared when he was finished, looking exhausted. He lifted his shovel, driving it into the dirt and being met with a squelch.

“I’ve got something.” He informed the group, using the shovel to reveal what he had hit. A dismembered hand rolled across the dirt, and Nathan and Kelly, who had leaned over to inspect, jumped back in disgust. “Oops.”

It didn’t take long after this to dig up the rest of the bodies. Simon, Alisha and Curtis worked at wrapping the bodies in the sheets they had brought along, while Bea, Nathan and Kelly began to fill the hole back in, the tension between Kelly and Bea causing the job to feel even worse than it already was.

“You alright?” Nathan asked Kelly, attempting to ease it a little.

“What?” She responded.

“You’re usually a whole lot gobbier than this.” He joked and Bea smirked, receiving a glare from the other girl.

“I’m fine.” She insisted. “How comes you’re living in the community centre, anyway?” Nathan looked hesitant to answer.

“Do we have to be that intimate with each other’s lives? No, I don’t think so. Not so big on the sharing.” He declared, walking away and leaving the two girls alone, silence falling amongst them once again.

“You didn’t come home last night.” Kelly suddenly blurted.

“Erm. No.” Bea answered, looking up from shovelling dirt. “Thought you might’ve wanted some space.”

“You slept with him?”

“What?” Bea questioned, confused about how Kelly reached that conclusion, when she remembered she could hear her thoughts. “Oh. No. I slept with him. But not like that. Just sleeping. Next to him.” She stumbled over her words, getting flustered at the knowing look Kelly was giving her. “I swear!”

“The sad thing is, I believe ya.” Kelly admitted. “Only you would stay out all night with the boy you like and do nothing.”

“I don’t…”

“You do. Don’t even try to deny it.” Kelly interrupted her, pointing to her head as a reminder of her power. Bea continued filling in the hole with dirt, not wanting to look at her stepsister.

“Fine. I guess I do a bit.” She mumbled. Satisfied with the answer, Kelly continued to help with the dirt, both girls finishing the job in silence.

“I don’t regret it.” Bea suddenly spoke.

“Why did you do it?” Kelly asked her, still facing the direction she had been about to walk, her back to Bea.

“Because you were gonna go to prison. And I could stop it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kelly turned to face her, pushing her shovel into the dirt and leaning on it.

“Because… I…” Bea wasn’t sure how to answer. She didn’t know why she hadn’t said anything before. And then she remembered what Nathan had said the other day.

**_“She probably feels like she’s going to live in your shadow. Spending family gatherings being compared to perfect, little Bea.”_ **

“I guess I just didn’t want you to feel like I was holding it over you. So that you wouldn’t be forced to like me because I helped you. I don’t know how Jodi found out, but I didn’t tell anyone, not dad or anyone. I didn’t want people to treat me like I’m better than you.” She finally admitted. _“Because I’m not. We’re different. But I’m not better.”_ Kelly stared at her for few moments, contemplating this answer and cursing Bea for making it so hard to dislike her.

“Thank you.” She replied, pulling up her shovel and walking back to the car, leaving Bea stood alone, smiling to herself.

“You’re welcome.” She whispered even though no one could hear her.

\--- 

By the time they had pulled up outside the community centre, Bea had nodded off, her head resting on Nathan’s leg. He gently shook her to wake her, and the group made work on dragging the bodies out of the car and up the stairs. As they carried the second body into the room, Nathan reached out to grab the hat that Kelly had refused to take off all day.

“I like your cap.” He told her, as he grabbed the front and pulled it back, shocked when her hair came with it.

“No!” Kelly cried, dropping the body to cover her head with her hands. She turned and ran before anyone had the chance to say anything to her. Nathan went to follow but froze, looking at the cap and wig in his hands with confusion and then to Bea for an explanation, which she couldn’t provide. She shrugged, being just as confused as the rest of them.

“She looked like an alien.” Alisha broke the silence.

“Aw, don’t be mean.” Nathan tried to defend, though the amusement was evident in his voice.

“She did, didn’t she?” He snorted, unable to remain serious for long. “A bald alien.” Bea smacked his arm, giving him a warning look to stop finding amusement in Kelly’s problem. Knowing Bea was right, he sighed.

“I should probably try find her. Y’know.” He held up Kelly’s things and went in the direction she had run. Bea didn’t know whether or not to follow. They had had a small moment earlier on, but she didn’t want to do anything that could ruin that, so she decided to stay behind and help the others finish hiding the bodies. 

Simon had offered to walk Bea home, and though she knew she could probably use her power to protect herself if anything happened, she had accepted anyway, Curtis and Alisha making it clear that they wanted them both gone so that they could talk. By the time she had gotten home, Kelly was already tucked into bed and starting to dose off. She quietly explained to Bea what had happened while Bea got ready for bed, and the pair quickly fell asleep, being exhausted from all the physical work that they had done that day.

\--- 

“It was her ex-boyfriend, and he’s bald! It’s Jodi!” Kelly explained to Nathan as they walked into the locker room. On the way to the community centre, Bea and Kelly walking together for the first time, they had come across Jodi’s ex banging at her door, accusing her of making him bald.

“She’s got a power or something. Oh!” Kelly slammed a locker shut as she walked past causing Bea and Nathan to jump back. “That bitch did this to me!” She screamed in frustration.

“She has the power to turn people bald? That’s rubbish!” Nathan exclaimed.

“At least she has a power.” Bea teased him.

“Ha.” He responded, not finding the comment funny at all.

“When I catch her, I’m gonna batter her. I’m gonna rip her tits off.” Kelly told them, folding her arms and leaning against the locker, huffing. Nathan and Bea didn’t respond, a little terrified that Kelly was fully capable of that, and they weren’t about to get in her way.

Standing around the boxes that they had spent all morning packing with the donated clothes for Africa, the group discussed their next plan of action.

“We should bury the bodies under the foundation of the environmental monitoring station before they pour in the concrete.” Simon suggested, and Bea felt a bit annoyed at the suggestion. What was the point in all that work yesterday then?

“So, your plan is, we dig up the bodies, and then re-bury them in exactly the same place?” Nathan questioned, expressing the same thought that Bea had had and sharing the same annoyance at the plan. “You’re a genius!” He praised sarcastically.

“That works.” Curtis said.

“Yeah, that’s dead smart.” Kelly supported. Simon looked pleased with himself, but Nathan didn’t look impressed, and neither did Bea, the pair looking at each other in confusion.

“Okay, guys, if you want to grab a box and follow me.” The volunteer from the other day told them, but no one moved, having not yet finished their plan. “Guys, do you wanna grab a box?” He tried again, and they all reluctantly grabbed a box and followed him single file. This was all they had left to do for the day, besides their other non-community service task, so they got on with it and quickly got changed out of their jumpsuits. 

Outside, Nathan, Kelly, Bea and Simon joined Curtis, watching Alisha leave with the volunteer.

“Where’s she going?” Nathan asked Curtis.

“Urgh. Is she hooking up with him?” Kelly questioned.

“Oh, that is definitely on.” Nathan conspired, neither of them thinking of the consequences of Alisha leaving them until Simon spoke up.

“How do we move the bodies without her dad’s car?”

“You need to get that tart on the phone and tell her we need her dad’s car to shift the stiffs.” Nathan ordered Curtis, who ignored him and started walking away.

“Where are you going?” Bea asked him, “We still need to move the bodies.”

“You deal with it!” He shot back, leaving the four stood there with no plan as to what to do next.

“We could take Sally’s car?” Simon suggested.

“Who’s Sally?” Nathan replied, the three staring at him in disbelief.

\---

Simon had managed to use his invisibility to steal the keys to Sally car, and they worked to get the bodies into the boot. Nathan, however, sat in the driver’s seat doing very little work.

“Do you want to give us a hand?” Kelly asked him as they struggled to lift Tony’s body.

“I’m the designated driver!” He tried to argue but gave in when he received some not so pleasant responses from the two girls. They managed to lift the body in and close the boot, when Sally came around the corner, searching her bag for her keys.

“Oh shit!” Nathan exclaimed, grabbing Bea’s arm and pulling her to duck down behind the car, Kelly and Simon following. They crawled across, aiming for the bins, holding their breaths as Sally stood on the other side of the car. They successfully made it without being caught, sighing with relief until they realised that getting caught stealing a car was the least of their worries.

“You’re the one with all the big ideas. What do we do?” Nathan asked Simon who looked at him with concern, obviously having no idea what to do.

“Where’s the keys?” Kelly asked, and Nathan grimaced as Sally started the car revealing exactly where the keys were. Sally drove off, taking the dead bodies with her.

“Shit!” Nathan exclaimed, running out from behind the bins, and they all stood, realising how disastrous this mistake could be.

“Fuck!” Bea suddenly burst out. “I should’ve used my power to stop her.”

“What the fuck? Bea!” Kelly shouted, hitting her stepsister’s arm in annoyance.

“I’m sorry guys.” She tried to apologise, feeling a bit embarrassed about her stupidity. “I didn’t think.”

“No, and that was the only thing you had to do!” Nathan replied, frustrated.

\---

Up on the roof of the community centre, Nathan tried to get in touch with Curtis and Alisha to update them on the situation with the bodies. When no one answered he left a message, walking over to the bench and dropping down next to Kelly.

“Well, I guess that’s it. We’re going to prison.” He stated. Bea sat in the chair furthest away from the other three, fiddling with a loose seam on her jeans. She couldn’t help but think this was all her fault. If she had just been thinking properly, they wouldn’t be in this position. What was the point in having a power if she didn’t even remember to use it? She sat sulking, not listening to the conversation going on next to her until Nathan started screaming.

“Ow, ow!” He yelled, and Bea looked over to see Kelly punching his arm. “You know, you two hit me a lot.” He pointed between the two girls, and Bea shrugged at him, not really in the mood to talk.

“Yeah, cos you’re a dick.” Kelly told him, getting into his face.

“Maybe Sally won’t look in the boot.” Simon interrupted, attempting to give the group hope.

“Fingers crossed, eh?” Nathan responded sarcastically. They all sat there, not knowing what to do and feeling a bit helpless. Nathan tried calling Curtis again, and this time he picked up. After informing him of the situation, they realised there wasn’t anything else they could do today and made their separate ways home for a long and restless night.

\---

The next morning Bea and Kelly were getting ready to go, after sitting up all night talking, too stressed to get any sleep. Who knew a potential murder charge could bring two people together? They made their way to the community centre, arriving early in order to beat Sally there. They knocked the door, Nathan running over to let them in.

“We would’ve been arrested by now if she found the bodies.” Alisha pointed out.

“Maybe they’re waiting until we’re all together?” Simon suggested.

“Now, why would you say something like that?” Nathan cried.

They were all crouched down behind the bins, waiting for Sally to pull up. Bea could hardly breathe; she had never been this stressed in her life. _“Stay focused, they need you, just breathe.”_

“Are you okay?” Kelly whispered, hearing her repeating these sentiments over and over. Bea nodded, though she definitely wasn’t, and it was obvious. Noticing this, Nathan grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers and squeezing it with reassurance. She squeezed back, giving him a small nod and smile.

“She didn’t look in the boot!” Kelly quietly exclaimed as Sally drove around the corner.

“We’re gonna be okay! We’re not going to prison!” Nathan cheered, dropping Bea’s hand to pull her into a hug instead, which she instantly returned. As Sally pulled up and parked the car Nathan squeezed Bea a little tighter.

“You’ve got this.” He whispered, and Bea nodded. As Sally got out of the car, Bea realised the bin was blocking her line of sight, and in a panic, she jumped up.

“Sally!” She called, as the woman started walking towards the boot of the car. Bea made her way around the bin’s praying that Sally wouldn’t notice the others squatting behind them.

“Bea? What are you doing?” She asked, going to look towards where she had just come from. _“Look at me.”_ Bea used her power, Sally’s eyes following her until her back was facing the bins.

“I was just… um… looking for something.” Bea stuttered, cursing herself for being so bad under pressure.

“Is everything okay?” Sally questioned, unable to look away from the girl while under her power.

“I wanted to talk to you actually.” Bea told her. “In your office?” The probation worker nodded.

“Of course, let me just grab something out of my car and I’ll meet you in there.”

“No!” Bea yelled in panic. _“Just go to your office.”_ Sally began walking towards the community centre, going to drop her keys into her bag when Bea realised that the group would need them. _“and drop your keys on the floor.”_

Bea followed Sally into the building and felt a bit more at ease at her success. Now all she needed to do what keep her distracted until the others returned the car. Easy.

“I’m just going to use the bathroom and I’ll meet you in there.” Sally smiled, heading towards the bathroom. Bea entered her office and took a seat, waiting for Sally to return. After a few moments waiting, Bea pulled her phone out. Ignoring the messages from work wanting to know why she hadn’t come in for two days, she text Nathan asking if everything was going okay. Bea absentmindedly tapped her nails on the back of her phone, trying to come up with a reason as to why she would need to talk to Sally, and started to get a bit concerned about what was taking her so long. Just as she was about to stand up to go look for her, she heard voices in the hallway.

“What the hell, Nathan?” Sally shouted.

 _“Nathan?”_ Bea panicked, _“Did they get caught? How did she see them she was meant to be in the bathroom?”_

Sally burst into the office looking very annoyed and Nathan trailed behind her. Bea didn’t need Kelly’s power to know what he was thinking as he walked past and dropped into the chair next to her. _“What the fuck, Bea? How did you mess that up?”_

“I told you, it’s just pure mindless vandalism!” Nathan explained, and Bea returned the look he had given her when he walked in.

“What does that even mean?” Sally sighed.

“It’s just fun, y’know?” Nathan replied, smirking at her.

“No, Nathan, I don’t know. I don’t know what could possibly be fun about throwing bricks at cars.”

“What?” Bea blurted out, not having expected this to be what Nathan was caught doing.

“I’m sorry, Bea. I know you wanted to talk, just let me just deal with this.” Sally apologised, gesturing to Nathan.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not that important, it doesn’t matter.” Bea told her, standing up to leave the office. She took a seat in the hallway and waited for Nathan, preparing herself for his disappointment in another one of her failures.

\---

After Nathan left Sally’s office, he had explained to Bea what had happened. He told her how, according to Curtis, Sally had come straight back out the of building and found the bodies in the boot but that he had rewind time, and how Nathan had smashed the window to distract her. She told him how she didn’t know how that could’ve happened because as far as she knew, Sally was in the bathroom. The pair then sat watch on the office to make sure Sally didn’t leave before the others returned with the car. Once they did, they finished up the clothes donation job, and then sat together on the roof, revelling in their success.

“They’ll never find the bodies.” Kelly smiled.

“They’re going to think the probation workers still alive.” Simon told them. “I stole his credit card. I used it to book a flight.”

“That is smart!” Curtis praised, and the others jumped on, letting Simon know that he’d done good.

“We should all go out for drink, you know, to celebrate.” Simon suggested, getting caught up in the praise. “It’s like an ironic “fuck you” to the probation worker. We’re all out having a good time and you're buried under the foundations of an environmental monitoring station.” He was met by silence, no one joining his enthusiasm.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Alisha said, standing to leave, gesturing to Curtis as she went, who quickly followed behind. Bea got up next, apologising to Simon and explaining that she really needed to go into work before she got fired, Nathan and Kelly soon following behind, providing their own excuses. 


	7. Chapter Seven

“Hey, Bea!” Nathan called as Bea exited the locker room, the boy quickly following out behind.

“What’s up?” She asked as he fell into step next to her.

“Just wondering what you were up to tonight. Thought we could maybe go get completely smashed and vandalise something. Y’know, carry on with your badassery training.”

“Ah, sounds fun, but I have work.” She told him apologetically. He frowned, looking very disappointed, a feeling that Bea reciprocated. She’d much rather risk getting arrested for real with Nathan than sort clothes and keep customers happy.

“I thought you had Friday’s off?”

“Usually I do, but I have to make up the hours I missed the other day.”

“That’s so boring. Why do you even have a job?” He complained.

“I’m saving up for driving lessons.”

“Uh, so responsible.” He rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m bored shitless sitting around here all day so mind if I walk with you?”

“Oh, well, I actually have to go somewhere on the way. Isn’t Kelly or Simon free?” It’s not that she didn’t want to spend time with Nathan, she absolutely did and would usually jump at his offer. But she knew that he wouldn’t enjoy her stop. In fact, he would probably enjoy taking the piss out of her for it.

“They already left. Besides I wanna hang out with you.” He grinned, nudging her with his elbow as they walked. “What could be so bad that you wouldn’t want me to go with you? To see your parents?” He guessed, and Bea shook her head. “Getting tested for STDs?” He guessed again, smirking at Bea’s embarrassed reaction.

“No!” She cried, smacking his arm.

“Where then?” He begged. “Tell me!” He wrapped his arms around Bea’s side, shaking her as he begged, making it extremely difficult to keep walking, and she sighed, giving in.

“The library.” She muttered, barely audible.

“What was that?”

“The library.” She repeated louder, and Nathan let go of her, standing up straight as he looked at her with an amused look. “I have to go return these books.” She explained, lifting up the bag of books she was carrying.

“Why are you embarrassed about that?”

“Well, it’s not exactly badass is it?”

“Bea, nothing about you is badass. And anyway, there is nothing badass about library fines.” He joked, grabbing the bag of books that Bea was carrying and led the way to the library.

\---

Nathan had decided to wait outside while Bea dropped off the books, though the elderly woman already at the desk was making this a slower process than expected. She had told him that he didn’t need to wait to walk her to work, but he’d insisted on it. Outside, Nathan kicked a stone around as he waited, and Bea watched him fondly through the window, too distracted to realise that the woman in front of her had finished.

“Excuse me? Can I help you?” The man working the desk called when Bea didn’t step forward.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, rushing forward and pulling the books out of her bag to hand over. As the man worked at scanning the books, Bea turned to look at Nathan once again, but found him missing from his previous spot.

“Those are all sorted for you.” The man at the desk smiled.

“Thank you.” Bea returned the smile, stepping away from the desk to go find where Nathan had wondered off to, looking out the window once again to try and spot him rather than where she was walking, causing her to crash into another person, their books falling everywhere.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Bea apologised, quickly bending down to help pick up the books.

“It’s fine.” The man responded, and when Bea looked at him, she was met with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen, and a smile that made her heart jump. The man stood up as he finished picking up the books, and Bea followed, almost mesmerised by the man’s face. Her mind was blank, her only thoughts being _“wow”_ and _“so pretty”._ Beginning to feel a little uncomfortable under the girl’s stare, the man pointed to the books she was still holding.

“Can I?” He asked her.

“Oh! Yes. Here, sorry.” Bea handed the books over, feeling goose bumps as the man’s fingers skimmed hers. He chuckled as Bea closed her eyes, feeling completely embarrassed by the incident and her reaction to him.

“I’m really sorry.” She apologised again.

“It’s really fine. You’d be surprised how often this actually happens, but it’s not so bad when it’s a cute girl.” He winked, and Bea giggled. _“What the fuck? Is he flirting with me? Did I giggle?”_ The man attempted to balance the books he was carrying in one hand, putting his now free hand out for Bea to shake. “I’m Will.”

“Bea.” She replied, taking a hold of his hand to shake it. Will went to speak again, when all of a sudden, an arm came around Bea’s shoulder.

“Everything alright here, Bea?” Nathan asked, seemingly appearing from nowhere, pulling her into his side and staring at Will with a subtly threatening look. Or at least as threatening as Nathan could look.

“Just a little accident. It’s sorted now.” Will replied, mirroring Nathan’s look as if daring him to start a fight. “It was nice to meet you, Bea.” He smiled at her before walking past the pair towards the desk, Nathan continuing to stare at him as he went. Bea looked up to him with a questioning look, but Nathan didn’t reply, leading her out the door instead, his arm still across her shoulders.

Neither of them said anything about what had happened during the walk to the store where Bea worked, though Nathan didn’t drop his arm until the library was out of sight. Her shift was extremely uneventful, and Bea’s mind was filled with Will and, even more so, Nathan’s reaction to it. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Kelly all about it.

\---

The next day, Bea sat in the café across the road from her work, eating a sandwich and reading through the texts she’d received while she had been working. They were all from Nathan complaining about how bored he was, and why can’t she just use her power to get free driving lessons?

“Bea?” At the sound of her name, Bea looked up from her phone, seeing Alisha stood next to her table.

“Alisha? Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” She asked, sliding into the seat opposite her.

“I work across the road. I’m on my break.” Bea explained, her phone buzzing on the table. Knowing it would be from Nathan, she ignored it, not wanting to be rude to her unexpected company. She’d thought Alisha didn’t like her very much and assumed that she would’ve avoided her if she’d ever seen her outside of community service. “What’re you doing here?”

“Just grabbing a drink on my way to meet Curtis.” Alisha explained.

“Ah. So, are the two of you like a thing now?” 

“Yeah, sorta. He’s definitely into me and he’s well fit so I guess it was inevitable really.” She shrugged and Bea chuckled, thinking back to what Nathan had said during their first couple days. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”

“Oh, no. I am very much single.”

“So, there’s nothing going on between you and Nathan then?” Alisha questioned, looking at Bea with suspicion.

“No! No, no, definitely not.” Bea quickly defended, feeling as though she’d been caught red handed, even though she was telling the truth.

“Good!” Alisha exclaimed. “You can do way better than that prick. God help whoever he tricks into dating him.” She laughed, and Bea awkwardly joined in, not really agreeing with her at all.

“He’s not that bad. He can be sweet.” She tried to argue without giving away her true feelings for the boy.

“He’s an ass, no wonder his mum kicked him out. Could you imagine living with that all the time?” Bea, feeling offended on Nathan’s behalf, was about to defend him when a familiar face walked into the café.

“Oh shit!” Bea whispered, ducking down a little and hiding her face behind her hand as casually as she could, not wanting to be seen.

“What?” Alisha asked, turning around to look at who Bea might be hiding from.

“The guy that just walked in. I accidentally walked into him yesterday and it was really embarrassing. I don’t want him to see me.” She explained.

“The guy in the suit?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s cute! You should ask him out.” Alisha suggested, and Bea shook her head. “Oh, come on! What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I can’t!” Bea protested. Sure, he was attractive, and it seemed like he had been flirting with her yesterday, but he wouldn’t actually be interested in going out with her, it’s more likely he was just being nice. And there was also those maybe feelings she had for Nathan.

“Can we just go?” Bea asked and Alisha stared at her for a moment, deciding whether or not to push this, before rolling her eyes and standing up.

“Fine, let’s go.” Bea quickly grabbed her phone and stood, making her way to the door as quickly as she could hoping Will wouldn’t see her. However, Alisha had other plans, giving Bea a gentle nudge as she walked past, causing her to lose balance and fall directly into the man she was trying to avoid.

“Oh, careful there.” Will chuckled as he caught the girl, helping her to regain her balance. “Bea?”

“Will?” She feigned surprise.

“We have to stop meeting like this!” He laughed, and Bea once again giggled, getting lost in that smile. “No boyfriend today?” He asked looking around for the curly haired guy who had interrupted them yesterday.

“Boyfr… Oh! No, he’s not my boyfriend. No boyfriend here. Just me. Alone. Well, not alone. I’m with a friend. But single.” She rambled, and Will chuckled. 

“Well, that’s good.”

“It is?” Bea asked completely innocently, though she quickly realised that it could be interpreted as flirting.

“It is. No boyfriend means I maybe have a shot at getting your number?” He prompted.

“Oh.” Bea responded, making no move to give him her number, shocked that he was actually interested, and not sure if she even wanted him to have it. He stood expectantly holding out his phone, and Bea saw Alisha stood just behind him, nodding in encouragement. “Okay.” She finally answered, taking his phone and putting in her number. 

“I’ll text you later then.” He smiled, taking his phone back.

“Yeah. I’ll see you soon, I guess.” Bea said, shooting him finger guns as she walked away, cringing at her awkward exit. Alisha followed her out laughing at her choice in goodbye, but proud of her for giving him her number. After congratulating her and agreeing to meet up after Bea had finished work to find suitable date apparel, Alisha left to go meet Curtis. Bea crossed the road to head back into work, trying not to think about potentially going on a date, or Nathan finding out about it. 

\---

Alisha had met Bea at the store at the end of her shift and after a couple hours searching, they had landed on a simple black dress that Alisha claimed was a “wardrobe staple”. It wasn’t exactly Bea’s usual style, but she had never been on a date before and put all her faith in Alisha’s choice. Though it had been two days and she still hadn’t heard from Will, so a date was beginning to seem improbable.

“I’m pretty sure Curtis and Alisha are shagging back there!” Nathan exclaimed walking into the locker room where Bea, Kelly and Simon stood chatting, waiting to get started with the day.

“But what about Alisha’s power?” Kelly asked.

“I dunno, but they were definitely getting it on!” Nathan laughed before going into a detailed explanation about what Alisha and Curtis could be doing behind the locked shutter, as the pair in question walked in. They had been assigned a couple hours of litter picking before they were to have a meeting with Sally about their progress, though not much got done, the group choosing to relax in the sun rather than do any work. While Nathan was distracted with annoying Simon, Bea checked her phone to see if there was anything from Will yet, feeling a little disappointed when there was nothing.

Bea’s meeting with their probation worker was basically futile, Sally spending the whole time trying to convince her to admit that she had lied to the police for Kelly’s sake, telling her that she didn’t need to be here if she would just tell the truth. From how long the others spent in there too, it seemed that theirs were just as pointless, besides Simon, who had spent longer than the others combined. Due to how quickly they had gotten through the meetings, they were rewarded with more mindless work to fill the rest of the day.

“We never did find out who was putting notes in our lockers.” Kelly announced to the group, who stood in a line ripping old posters off the wall of the community centre.

“What did I say? I said they had nothing.” Nathan proudly bragged. “They were just pissing in the wind.”

“You don’t know what they got on us.” Curtis argued.

“Maybe they’re watching us right now.” Simon suggested. Bea had to admit, she didn’t enjoy their pessimism, she’d rather join in Nathan’s positive outlook. Though she couldn’t ignore the feeling of anxiety that had been sitting in her stomach since the incident had happened.

“This shit is old news. We have out foxed the fox, which makes us very bloody foxy.” Nathan declared, grinning at Bea and Kelly, who both returned it, thankful for his ability to always lighten the mood.

\---

After getting in from work, Bea collapsed onto her bed, grabbing her phone to check it, and nearly dropping in onto her face when she saw a new message from an unknown number.

“Will text me.” She announced to Kelly, who was curled up in bed watching a movie on her laptop.

“What’s he said?” She asked, pausing the film and sitting up with interest.

“He wants to know if I’m free Friday night.” With no response from Kelly, Bea took a deep breath and typed out a reply. She quickly pressed send, and threw her phone across the room in panic, not wanting to look at the response. Kelly watched the other girl, amused by the rush of panicked thoughts she could overhear.

“I don’t get it.” Kelly suddenly spoke. “If you like Nathan, why are you going on a date with this other guy?” Bea stared at her, knowing that she knew exactly why on account of her having full access to her mind. “He does like you.” She told her, and Bea shook her head, Kelly rolling her eyes at her stepsisters’ ignorance.

“He already told me he finds me annoying. He only comes to me when he’s bored and got no one else to hang out with.”

“That’s not true.” Kelly argued. “I’ve heard what he actually thinks about you.”

“And what’s that?” Bea questioned, very curious about what actually goes on in that brain of his.

“I can’t.” Kelly told her. “Just trust me.”

“No.”

“Whatever then.” Kelly huffed, finding her previous position curled up in bed, and carried on with her film, trying to block out Bea’s thoughts as she internally debated whether to go check her phone.


	8. Chapter Eight

The next day, Nathan, Bea, Kelly and Simon stood cleaning the community centre windows, Curtis and Alisha locked away in the storage room once again. Nathan rambled on about what his power could be, still annoyed that he was yet to figure it out but insistent that he must have one. As a group of mothers walked by the window carrying their babies, Nathan moved to stand in between Bea and Kelly, placing an arm across each of their shoulders.

“See? Babies. That’s why I always use a condom.” He stated. “And if the girl looks dirty, I use two.” He finished smugly, pushing himself off the two girls to walk back to his window as they looked at him with disgust. Neither of them had the energy to explain why that was not a sensible solution, and they finished the outside windows, picking up their supplies to move to the inside ones. Just as they made a start on this side of the windows, a girl walked in, Nathan whistling at her as she walked past, to which Bea rolled her eyes and ignored the tiny bit of jealously she began to feel. He can cat call whoever he wants, she has a date, she reminded herself.

“Have you seen Curtis?” The girl addressed the group.

“Who are you?” Kelly asked her.

“I’m his girlfriend.” She replied, and the four looked at her in shock. “Do you know where he is?”

“Uh… he’s been arrested.” Nathan lied. “For… exposing himself.”

“What?” She responded with dismay.

“Yeah, flashing.” Nathan continued his lie, Simon quickly jumping in.

“At some scouts.” At this, the girl looked unimpressed, clearly not believing the lie. Bea couldn’t tell if this had been Simon’s intention, or if he was just as bad at lying as Nathan.

“Very funny. When you see him, can you tell him to call Sam?” She asked, before exiting the community centre, Nathan spraying window cleaner at her as she walked past.

“She seems nice.” He chuckled, and the other three joined him, confused about the whole situation.

\---

“Hey Bea, play your cards right and that could be you.” Kelly teased, as the pair got changed in the locker room. It was just the two of them, Simon having gotten changed quickly and already left, Alisha heading straight to the bathroom, and Nathan following Curtis up to the roof to inform him of his surprise visitor.

“What?” Bea responded, not following what Kelly was suggesting.

“Two guys, Will and Nathan, y’know.” She grinned, raising her eyebrows at Bea suggestively.

“Kelly! No!” Bea protested, though finding the thought amusing. “Although…” She added, laughing along with Kelly. The two left the community centre together, running into Nathan smoking outside.

“Hey, did you speak to Curtis?” Bea asked, walking up to him.

“Yeah, yeah. Apparently, he did some power shit to stop his ex from going to jail and now they never broke up.” Nathan explained.

“Why hasn’t he just dumped her then?” Kelly questioned.

“He’s tried but he said…” He suddenly stopped speaking, looking around as though he heard something. “Can you hear that?”

“What?” Kelly asked, confused.

“A baby crying.” He stated, putting out his cigarette and walking towards the community centre doors, following the noise. Bea and Kelly looked at each other with confusion before following Nathan through the doors. Sure enough, there was a baby stood in the hallway, Nathan walking towards him as though mesmerised by the child.

“Who are you?” He spoke softly, bending down to pick the baby up.

“Nathan?” Bea questioned, concerned his sudden change in attitude towards babies. He didn’t respond, continuing to softly talk to the child and giggling as it reached out to touch Nathan’s face, enraptured by it. Bea would have found the whole thing quite sweet if she didn’t know Nathan any better.

“Where did you go ay?” A woman, presumably the child’s mother, quickly came down the corridor, taking the baby from Nathan. “He’s always crawling off.”

“He’s beautiful.” Nathan stated, still intently watching the child. “What’s his name?”

“Finn.” The child’s mother responded, beginning to walk away. Nathan followed her, continuing to ask questions about the child, Bea and Kelly behind him, confused but intrigued by his strange behaviour.

“Nathan.” Kelly tried to get his attention, the woman beginning to get uncomfortable when Nathan started questioning about the baby’s dad and pressuring her to let him hold it again. He continued to ignore the two girls, until Sally saw them.

“Nathan! What the hell are you doing?” Nathan turned to look at her, the baby’s mother taking the opportunity to leave.

“Oh, I found a baby.” He explained, turning to find them gone. “Did you see him? He is beautiful.” Sally looked to Bea and Kelly for an explanation, but they only shrugged at her, just as clueless about Nathan’s behaviour.

“Are you taking the piss?” She asked him.

“No.” He replied defensively, and Sally walked off shaking her head, not wanting to deal with the man’s antics anymore. Nathan continued to stare dreamily in the direction the mother and baby had left, before waving the girls goodbye and heading to the locker room to get out of his jumpsuit. Kelly and Bea decided not to bother questioning him, assuming that he was just messing with them. 

\---

Back to scraping up old posters, Bea stood between Nathan and Curtis as they discussed how the latter’s break up attempt went.

“So, did you go with nasty snatch gunk, yeah?” Nathan asked, the phrase taking Bea by surprise.

“That’s disgusting.” Bea told him, and Curtis looked a little ashamed. 

“Tried it.” He admitted.

“Seriously?” Nathan laughed.

“Oh, no.” Bea joined Nathan’s amusement.

“It’s done, it’s over.” Curtis informed them, his attention going back the poster he had been trying to get loose for a few minutes now. “You know what you said about no matter what you do, the ones you love will be the ones who pay, is that from spider-man?”

“I don’t know, I was just trying to sound intelligent.” Nathan argued, looking a little bashful that Curtis had figured it out. 

“Prick.” Curtis insulted.

“Nerd.” Bea teased, to which Nathan jabbed her in the arm with his scraper, hard enough for her to feel through the jumpsuit, but not enough to actually hurt.

“Why are you complaining? You got away with it, Alisha didn’t find out. Job done. Sorted.” Curtis debated this, glancing over his shoulder to where Alisha was stood, making his way over to join her.

Bea tried to focus on removing the pasted paper from the wall, but she found her-self distracted by the boy on her right. Nathan was unusually engrossed in the mindless work that they had been set, his nose slightly scrunched in concentration as he put extra effort into a particularly stuck poster. She admired his side-profile, the way his hair curled around his ear, and the beginnings of a sharp jaw that would likely only get stronger as he gets older and grows out of his still quite boyish face.

_“Beautiful.”_ She thought, as she continued to analyse his face, her attention drawn to his long lashes that almost made it appear as though he was wearing eyeliner. Bea ignored the fact that Kelly was likely listening in on her thoughts, allowing her-self to be a little self-indulgent. It was harmless as long as she didn’t think of any of the things she’d quite like Nathan to do to her, such as _“Pin me against this wall and kiss me until neither of us can breathe.”_ Nathan dropped his scraper, causing everyone to jump at the sudden loud noise of metal hitting the concrete. He grabbed Bea’s wrists, spinning her around so that her back was pushed against the wall, stepping forward so that he was pressed against her.

_“Shit, stop. Stop!”_ Nathan was inches from her face when he paused. He pulled away, blinking in surprise, and stepped back when he realised the position that they were stood in.

“I… erm… I…” Bea stuttered, flustered from the shame of what she had caused and the fact that everyone was watching them and had most likely quickly figured out what had happened. She was also partly flustered from the close proximity of Nathan and their near kiss, though she would never admit this. Nathan was about to speak, feeling quite pleased knowing that Bea had been thinking about kissing him, but he suddenly looked away as though he had heard something.

“Do you hear that?” He asked the group.

“What?” Kelly questioned, no one understanding what they were meant to be hearing.

“A baby crying.” He answered, quickly making his way to the community centre doors, giving Bea a feeling of de ja vu. She ignored this though, sighing with relief that she didn’t have to explain herself to Nathan. She slid down the wall, hiding her face in her hands as she waited for the inevitable mocking from the rest of the group. When all she heard was the sound of scrapers against brick, she looked up to find that everyone had gone back to work, also noticing that Simon had disappeared. She stood up, watching them cautiously still expecting at least one of them to say something, but no one did, they just continued working as though nothing had happened. The silence was interrupted by Simon bursting through the doors.

“I think I’ve just seen Nathan stealing a baby.” He told them, breathlessly. Everyone dropped what they were holding, following him back to where it had happened. “He just ran off with it.” Simon explained to them.

“Why would he take a baby?” Alisha questioned.

“He did this yesterday too.” Bea told them, and Kelly nodded in agreement when the other three looked at her.

“Yeah, he was being dead weird, like pickin’ it up and cuddlin’ it and shit.” Kelly added.

“If he gets caught, he’ll be screwed.” Curtis pointed out, “Call the prick.” He told Bea, who quickly pulled her phone out, but there was no answer.

“Nothing.” She informed them.

“Fucks sake.” Alisha moaned, and the group picked up speed, running in the direction Simon had seen him go. They ran round the corner, coming to a sudden stop when they heard Nathan singing a nursery rhyme. Looking up, Curtis pointed to where Nathan was stood bouncing the baby as he sang to it, and they took off running up the stairs. When they reached the top, Kelly quickly got Nathan’s attention.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She asked him, and Nathan quickly covered the baby’s ears, looking scandalised that she had sworn in front of him.

“Hey! There’s no need for language like that.” He exclaimed. “Don’t listen to her, that’s a very bad word and she should know better.” He gently told the child, resting his cheek on top of his head.

“Give us the baby.” Curtis demanded, but Nathan stepped back, holding the baby protectively.

“You’re not taking him! He needs me.” Nathan pleaded.

“I think he’s gone mental.” Simon supplied.

“The baby, he’s got a power.” Kelly realised. “He’s making you think you’re the dad.”

“He needs a dad. I know what that’s like.” Nathan replied, sympathetically. “My dad was never around. Look what it did to me. I’m going to be his daddy.” He proudly declared.

“You?” Curtis questioned, and Nathan nodded continuing to cuddle the child. “You’re going to be its dad?”

“You’re homeless, you’re living in the community centre.” Kelly pointed out.

“You’ve got no money, no job.” Curtis added.

“And you’ve got a criminal record.” Simon continued.

“You can’t raise a baby, Nathan.” Bea said, stepping closer to him, but he stepped back again. _“Give me the baby.”_ She tried, but Nathan didn’t, looking almost pained as he looked between Bea and the baby. The influence of both of theirs powers battled against each other, the baby’s winning out as Nathan clutched at him tighter.

“You can barely look after yourself.” Kelly continued to try and convince him.

“Social service is going to take one look at you.” Curtis shook his head, and Nathan looked genuinely hurt by this comment.

“Him and his mum can come live with me at the community centre. I can get free food from the vending machines. I’ll steal booze from the kitchen. I’ll steal food from other babies. I’ll go to the park and forage for nuts and berries!” He tried to argued desperately, everyone staring at him in complete shock, not knowing where to even begin with the problems of this plan. They didn’t need to though, as seconds later Nathan looked at the baby in disgust, lifting it away from his body.

“Why am I holding this baby?” He asked confused, the spell seemingly broken. “I’m not being sexist but one of you girls needs to take this off me before I drop it on its head.” He declared, looking almost panicked. Bea quickly stepped forward, taking the baby from Nathan and passing it over to Kelly. They took the baby back to the community centre, returning him to his mother, Kelly quickly coming up with a lie to prevent Nathan from getting into trouble.

“You should take him to see his dad.” Kelly suggested when the mother seemed like she was about to spiral over being a bad mother.

“Yeah, well, he’s not interested.” She argued.

“Trust me, as soon as he sees him, he’ll want to be his dad again. I promise ya.” Kelly told her.

“Yeah, well thanks for bringing him back.” Kelly nodded in response as Sally escorted the woman away, giving Nathan an almost threatening look.

“Well, look at you using your powers, being all superhero.” He teased Kelly, who responded by sticking her middle finger in his face.

“So, did that baby have the same power as me?” Bea wondered aloud, and they all pondered this for a moment.

“We don’t know if he can do anything more than make people want to be his dad.” Kelly pointed out.

“And we’ve seen some shite powers, so it’s possible that’s all he can do.” Nathan added.

“Yeah. But it would be interesting to know if anyone has the same power, or if everyone’s is completely different, right?” She asked them, the question having been on her mind since they discovered more people had been affected by the storm.

“Not really.” Nathan replied nonchalantly, walking away from the girls.

“Just because you don’t have one!” Bea shouted after him, and Nathan continued walking away, flipping her off over his shoulder.

\--- 

The next day of community service was uneventful. No one talked about what had happened the day before, and Bea spent the whole-time avoiding Nathan, afraid he’d want to discuss what had happened before he tried to kidnap a baby. She had spent most of the day with Alisha, when she wasn’t off with Curtis, discussing the date she had tomorrow night and getting tips on what to talk about and how to act. The more they spoke though, the more nervous it made her feel.

At the end of the day, Bea and Kelly left the changing room to head home when they found Nathan violently shaking the vending machine until a drink dropped.

“Is that your tea?” Kelly asked, referring to the multiple packs of crisps he was holding.

“Starter, main course, dessert.” He said, showing her what he had. “And a nice refreshing beverage to wash it down.”

“You can’t live on that shit.” She argued. “Why don’t you come round ours for dinner? Our parents have gone away for the weekend so it’s just me in.”

He nodded towards Bea. “What about you?”

“I have work.” She explained and he dramatically rolled his eyes.

“You always have work. What are you cooking?” He asked Kelly.

“Chicken nuggets.”

“Oh. I didn’t realise you were a trained chef.”

“Do you wanna come or not?” Kelly retaliated, a little annoyed that he was being so picky when she was trying to do something nice.

“If Bea blows off work, I’ll come.” He proposed.

“What?” Bea questioned.

“C’mon, use your power to make them give you a day off. It’ll be fun. The three of us. Hanging out.” He argued. After Kelly’s encouragement, Bea gave in, stopping into work on their way back to the house.

\---

They had watched a full movie by the time Kelly actually put the chicken nuggets into the oven. Even though they had been snacking on whatever junk they could find in the kitchen, Kelly argued that she didn’t want to be cooking when Corrie was on, leaving Nathan and Bea sat on the sofa together.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened yesterday.” Nathan spoke when Kelly had completely left the room. Bea’s heart rate picked up. This is exactly what she had been avoiding all day.

“That you stole a baby?” She tried to deter the conversation.

“Before that.”

“I have no idea what you mean. I just remember you wanting to raise a child.” He shook his head, knowing she knew exactly what he was talking about.

“You were thinking about kissing me.” Bea tried to act shocked at the accusation, but there was really no way she could deny it. It was obvious that she had been. “Do you think of other stuff too, Bea? Do you think about this sexy body? Do I make you all horny, Bea?” He teased, biting his bottom lip and closing his eyes, running his hands over his chest. Bea grabbed the cushion from next to her, swinging it so that it hit him in the face.

“Shut up!” She told him. Nathan laughed, snatching the cushion from her. “And no, actually, I don’t. That was the only time and I’ve learnt my lesson.” She lied.

“Whatever, I don’t believe you.” He said, throwing the cushion into her lap. “You don’t need to use your power though. You could just ask.” She was about to respond, but it caught in her throat when they locked eyes, and she realised he was being sincere.

“They’re going to take about 20 minutes.” Kelly informed them, startling them and causing them to finally break eye contact. She dropped onto the seat between them, unaware of the moment she had just interrupted.

At around 10pm, Nathan finally left, declining the girls’ offer for him to stay in Bea’s brothers room, or at least on the sofa. Bea washed the dishes thinking about how Nathan had kept glancing at her all night, which she knew because she kept looking over to him. Kelly dried the dishes, listening to Bea thinking about this.

“I don’t think you should go on this date tomorrow.” She suddenly spoke.

“Why’s that?” Bea responded.

“You know why.” She told her, putting a clean plate back into the cupboard, and then explaining anyway when Bea didn’t say anything. “Because you like Nathan. And Nathan likes you. And before you try and argue that he doesn’t, he does. I’ve heard it.” Bea’s instinct was to argue, but what he had said earlier, and the way he had looked at her, she was starting to believe that maybe he actually did.

“At least talk to him.” Kelly told her. “Tell him how you feel.”

“Okay.” Bea answered after a few moments, dropping the sponge into the sink. “I’ll tell him.” She declared.

“Really?” Kelly asked, surprised that she had actually agreed.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” Kelly grinned at her stepsister, who smiled back, despite the fear she felt about what she had just agreed to.


	9. Chapter Nine

Standing at the community centre doors, Bea took a deep breath before entering. She had spent all night thinking about what to say, plotting all the ways in which Nathan could reject her. It was almost enough to convince her to back out, but when she thought about what could happen if it went well, if Kelly was right about Nathan reciprocating her feelings, well, that thought was enough to convince her to go through with it. Wondering around the community centre Bea searched for said boy, eventually finding him sprawled out on the sofa on the roof, one leg draped over the back and an arm laying across his face.

“Pizza?” She asked him, holding up the box she had picked up on her way there. At the sound of her voice, Nathan sat up, a cigarette hanging from his lips as he smiled at her.

“Yes, please.” He responded enthusiastically, swinging his legs off the sofa so that Bea could sit. He took the box from her, quickly opening it and grabbing a slice before handing it back so that he could remove the cigarette from his lips, continuing to smoke it as he ate the slice.

“Disgusting.” Bea chuckled, taking her own slice out before dropping the box onto Nathans lap. She sat with her legs crossed, facing the boy, and they mindlessly chatted as they ate. Bea tried to find a seamless way to bring up her reason for coming, getting increasingly nervous.

“So, what are you doing here?” Nathan asked after they had been silent for a while.

 _“This is it. Here goes nothing.”_ Bea breathed in deeply, hoping Nathan wouldn’t notice how nervous she was.

“I can’t help with dating tips.” Nathan spoke, just as Bea opened her mouth to answer. Hearing the word “dating”, her heart stopped.

“What?”

“If you’ve come looking for advice for your big date tonight, I’ve got nothing.” He sounded almost bitter, but Bea missed this, confused as to how he knew about Will.

“How did you?” She began to question, Nathan cutting her off.

“Alisha. She couldn’t wait to brag about how she’d helped you get it and how hot you looked in the dress she picked out for you.” His biting tone was once again lost on Bea, too many thoughts and feelings battling inside of her; anger at Alisha, disappointment that this wasn’t going as she planned, more anger at Kelly for misleading her.

 _“Calm down, Bea.”_ She told herself. _“Maybe he doesn’t want you to go.”_

“I didn’t really want it, Alisha tricked me.” She explained.

“No, I think it’s good. I’m happy for you.” Nathan told her, though the sadness in his eyes said differently. Disappointed with this response, Bea turned, uncrossing her legs and sinking back into the sofa.

“Where’s he taking you?” Nathan asked her when she didn’t say anything.

“Erm, the Velvet Fox.”

“Wow. That’s fancy.” Nathan admired, surprised by the answer.

“Yeah.” Bea murmured, tracing circles into her leg as she stared into her lap. She’d googled the restaurant after Will had suggested it, realising that he must have a lot of money to afford somewhere like that. She knew she would be out of her comfort zone but had also come to believe that she wouldn’t actually be going. Now that Nathan had made his position on her dating someone else clear, it was sinking in that this was something she was actually going to do.

“I should probably go start getting ready.” Bea announced, wiping her hands on her jeans before standing. She still had hours before she needed to even think about getting ready, but she didn’t want to stay there much longer. Besides, she had a stepsister to go fight. 

“Have fun.” Nathan said through a forced smile.

“I’ll try.” Bea awkwardly replied, returning Nathan’s forced smile and heading towards the door.

“Be safe. Use a condom.”

“Nathan!” She exclaimed, turning back to face him. “Sex on the first date, who do you take me for?”

“Hey, nothing wrong with that. I would.” Bea shook her head, having no doubt that he would. “And if it ends up going too bad, you can always text me and I’ll come save you.” Nathan offered as Bea pulled the door open. She smiled in response. She might just take him up on that. 

\---

Hearing the car pull up outside, Bea gave a final twirl in front of the mirror, thoroughly impressed with the outfit that Alisha had helped her pick out. It was nothing extravagant, a simple black dress and heels, but she felt good. Grabbing her coat and bag, she waited for Will to knock the door, but instead he announced his arrival with the car horn. She left the house without saying goodbye to Kelly, the pair not speaking after a pretty big argument that afternoon. When she got into the car, a small sports car that looked severely out of place in the council estate, Will glanced at her, his eyes quickly flicking back to the mirror where he was watching a gang of young lads walking down the road in their direction. He was already driving off before Bea had the chance to get her seatbelt on and while she knew that those lads wouldn’t bother them, knowing that they were only heading to their house at the end of the road, she understood why Will might have felt nervous. It was obvious he didn’t venture out to the poorer areas of London often, adding to her nerves about the night.

They arrived at the fanciest restaurant that Bea had ever stepped into, the kind of place she had only seen in movies, complete with valet and chandeliers, and waiters over the age of 30. She felt instantly out of place and suddenly very conscious of the ASBO attached to her ankle that was highly visible in her chosen outfit. They were led to their table by a man who looked at Bea as though he knew she didn’t belong there. It was worlds away from the pizza she’d shared with Nathan on the roof of the community centre only six hours earlier. The waiter handed them each a drinks menu, but Will didn’t give her chance to look at it before he ordered a bottle of wine of which Bea had never heard of. The waiter nodded and took their menus before leaving to go fetch the no doubt expensive wine.

“This is nice” Bea chuckled nervously, receiving a smile in return and a short history of the restaurant, which she didn’t listen to. By the time the starter had arrived, Will had gotten through talking about his degree, future career plans, and was making a start on his childhood, while Bea had gotten through two glasses of wine and was making a start on her third bread roll. 

“Anyway, I feel like I’m rambling on. What about you?”

“Huh?” Bea asked, having not been paying much attention to the conversation, and missing what it was she was supposed to be answering.

“University? Do you go?” He repeated.

“Oh. No. Not yet but I’m supposed to start in a couple months.”

“That’s great! Where?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I’ve had a couple offers though.” She hoped he wouldn’t question this further, knowing that they were nowhere near the same standard of his Oxford education. Or was it Cambridge? She really hadn’t been listening. Despite having always been one of the top students in her school, her school wasn’t great, and she’d come to realise this when she received rejections from all of the top universities. As Will dived into a story about his experience with applying to university, Bea began to feel increasingly more uncomfortable. The more he spoke, the more she realised how little they had in common, and how much she would rather be talking to a different dark-haired boy. 

While waiting for the main to arrive Will had excused himself to use the bathroom. As the restroom door swung shut, she dropped her head into her hands with embarrassment. She pulled her phone out of her bag, debating whether it was going bad enough for her to justify texting Nathan. Deciding against it, she put her phone away. After all, they hadn’t even gotten to the main course yet, and Nathan was obviously joking when he had suggested it. Sighing, Bea looked out the window, her attention drawn to a familiar figure pacing outside the restaurant. Hands shoved into his pockets, Nathan stood in the middle of the path staring into the window of the restaurant, much to the annoyance of everyone walking around him. Confused as to why he was there, Bea attempted to subtly get his attention. Her mind raced with reasons as to why he would come all this way; has something happened? Is he meeting someone? Has he come to interrupt her date? Her heart rate picked up at the last idea, but she thought _“No way, that’s too romantic for Nathan.”_

“Sorry about that.” Bea jumped as Will slid back into his seat.

“That’s fine. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Um, yeah. I guess you do.” Will replied, giving her an awkward smile. Bea quickly looked back out the window, finding that Nathan had moved from his spot, and was now sat on the curb with his head in his hands. Curiosity, and boredom, got the better of her and she grabbed her phone from her bag, hoping Will didn’t notice as she sent Nathan a text.

**Going bad! Save me!!!**

**On it, I’ll be 20 minutes.**

**I can see you.**

Nathan turned to look at the restaurant, standing up. Making eye contact with him, Bea faintly shook her head as he gave her an embarrassed look. With a look of determination, he stormed into the restaurant, frantically searching the room, pretending to look for her. His eye’s landing on her, he quickly made his way between the tables, pushing everyone out of his way. 

“Beatrice Taylor, how could you do this to me?” He exclaimed as he reached the table.

“Do what, Nathan?” She asked, playing along.

“I thought you loved me! And here you are, with another man.” He dramatically proclaimed, holding his hand to his chest.

“I did love you!” She shouted back, aware that the entire restaurant was now watching them, but instead of hiding away from the attention like she was used to doing, she leant into it, using the adrenaline to keep up the act. “But then I found you with that… that slut!” 

“That meant nothing, just a meaningless fuck!” Nathan replied, kneeling in front of her chair and grabbing her hands. “She was nothing compared to you. You’re the one I love, Bea, please forgive me.” Even though she knew it was fake, the words and the look in his eyes made Bea’s stomach flip. He was a surprisingly good actor, and for a moment she forgot what was happening, when Nathan began speaking again.

“Please, baby, I know you still love me. Just come with me! I swear, I’ll never do it again.”

“But how can I be sure, Nathan?” She replied, threading her fingers through his.

“I…” He stuttered, and Bea panicked that she had pushed it too far, that she would have to admit the truth to Will, to the entire crowd watching them. “I’ll marry you!”

“What?” She whispered, genuinely surprised.

“Marry me, Bea.” The restaurant was silent as they eagerly awaited her answer. She shot a glance to Will, who was watching them with intrigue, completely sold on their act.

“Yes!” She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Nathan’s neck, who stood and spun her as they embraced, the crowd split between those who were happy for the couple and those who were annoyed by the interruption to their nice dinner. Bea grabbed her coat, apologising to Will before being pulled out of the restaurant by Nathan who continued to run down the street, dragging Bea with him until they rounded the corner, where he stopped and dropped her hand, both of them catching their breaths.

“Oh my god!” She shouted, adrenaline from the scene they had made causing her heart to pound. “That was… fun.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled at her excitement.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s use that power of yours to go get me some free food. I’m starving.”

\---

“It seems like all I do is feed you.” Bea joked, as Nathan bit into his sandwich.

“The quickest way to a man’s heart. Besides sex, and maybe alcohol.” They were sat in the same spot they had been a couple weeks before, leaning up against the tree as they ate.

“So, what were you doing outside the restaurant?” She asked, Nathan looking suddenly nervous as he examined his food, shrugging in response. Despite wanting to know the answer, she didn’t want to push him away, remembering what he had said about her questions being annoying. “Well, I’m glad you were. You saved me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“I have never felt so bored! He only talked about himself the entire time.”

“Uh, men. We’re all pigs!”

“Fuck all men and your massive egos.” Bea declared, and Nathan smiled slightly, but she could tell there was something on his mind, his eyes still on the food in his hands. He dropped the sandwich back onto the paper wrapping, sighing as he let his head fall back against the tree.

“I…” He began to speak, staring out across the park, barely visible in the dark. Bea watched him intently, waiting to see if he would continue. She focused on her thoughts, making sure she didn’t accidentally use her power to make him say something he was obviously not sure he wanted to say.

“I’m not a romantic person.” He said. Bea’s first instinct was to laugh, the statement obvious, but she could tell there was more he wanted to say, and she wanted to hear it. “I didn’t even think it through, I just started walking and there I was. It’s stupid.”

“No.” Bea encouraged, placing a hand on his arm, and when he finally met her eyes, she could see how nervous he actually was, and the hope she had felt when she had seen him stood outside resurfaced.

“You’re not my type at all.” The hope was quickly replaced with disappointment, her hand dropping away from his arm. She had already known this. “But…” He continued, grabbing her hand.

“I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about you.” He watched her intently, but she didn’t know what to say, her mind racing with contradicting thoughts.

_“He likes you.” “He thinks you're annoying.” “He’s going to kiss you.” “He’s going to tell you to leave him alone.” “I hope he kisses me.”_

His eyes flicked down to her lips, closing as he slowly leant towards her. Bea’s stomach flipped as she realised what was happening, about to lean in to meet him, when she remembered what was actually happening. She turned away, his lips hitting her cheek, pulling away with confusion. Bea covered her face with her hands, knowing that her cheeks would be burning from the embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry. This stupid power. I keep doing this.”

“What?” Nathan asked.

“I keep making you try and kiss me, I know it’s wrong, I’m so sorry.” Nathan chuckled, pulling her hands away from her face, forcing her to look at him.

“No, Bea, that wasn’t your power. That was me, I wanted to.” He softly whispered, bringing up a hand to cup her cheek.

“Really?” She asked back, and he nodded, leaning in once again, this time his lips finding hers.

\---

“I guess I’ll see you Monday.” Nathan said, leaning down to give her a quick kiss, Bea grabbing the back of his head to keep it there, deepening the kiss.

“My parents are still away.” She reminded him, he’s brow raising at the implication. “If you want to come in.”

“If you want me to.”

“Absolutely.” She replied, pressing another quick kiss to his lips before taking his hand and pulling him towards the door. Once inside, he was quick to kiss her again, much rougher than he had before, helping her to remove her coat. She dropped it to the floor, not caring to break away from him to find the hanger.

“Bea? How was-oh!” Kelly stepped out of the living room, surprised by the scene in front of her, Bea and Nathan quickly pulling apart. “Well, that’s not who you left with.”

“Um, no.” Bea responded, unable to prevent the smile that broke out, which Kelly returned, pleased with the change.

“Don’t let me interrupt.” She laughed, stepping out of their way, Bea pulling Nathan towards the stairs. “Nathan.” She nodded to him as he passed.

“Kelly.” He replied, returning the oddly formal greeting.

Pulling the bedroom door shut, Nathan wasted no time pinning Bea against it, kissing her roughly. She quickly pushed his jacket off of his shoulders, dropping it to the floor, pulling his t-shirt up and over his head and running her hands over his bare chest as she kicked off her shoes. His lips found hers again, his hands reaching behind to unzip her dress, pushing it down so that it fell to her ankles. She gently pushed against his chest, encouraging him to step back, pulling her with him as she stepped out of the dress.

“Which is yours?” He asked, looking between the two beds.

“That one.” She told him, pointing to the bed closest to the door. As Nathan sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off his shoes and working on getting his jeans undone, Bea made her way over to Kelly’s bed, retrieving the box of condoms from her bedside table. Taking one out, she dropped the box back in the draw, turning to find Nathan sat in just his underwear. Seeing him sat almost completely naked, Bea hesitated, looking down at the condom in her hands rather than at him.

“Are you okay?” He asked, noticing the sudden change in her behaviour.

“Yeah” She answered weakly, dropping onto Kelly’s bed and pulling her knees up to her chest, feeling a little uncomfortable in just her underwear.

“It’s just, I, y’know.” She mumbled, not really sure how to explain what was going through her mind.

“You’re a virgin?” Nathan supplied, though there was no teasing in his tone, as she had expected.

“I mean, not technically, but basically, yeah.”

“Technically?” Bea looked up, seeing the confusion on his face, sighing as she tried to work out how to explain it.

“I had this friend in sixth form. We were seventeen and neither of us had done anything, so we decided to just get it out the way. But it was over so quick, it doesn’t even feel like it should count, I didn’t even… y’know?” Bea could feel the blush spreading across her face, unable to say the word and hoping Nathan would pick up what she meant.

“Cum?” He says, Bea dropping her head to rest on her knees, hiding her face. Even someone else saying the word caused her to feel embarrassed. She had thought about that night often in the last two years, regretting the decision, having definitely not been ready, and despite how Nathan made her feel, especially in the last few minutes, she wasn’t sure she was ready now; she could barely even talk about it. She hadn’t heard Nathan move, but suddenly he was on his knees in front her, hands placed on top of her knees.

“Look, we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay?” The softness to his tone took Bea by surprise. For someone who was always so loud about his sexual endeavours and desires, who’s jokes knew no bounds, he was being very sweet. She lifted her head to look at him, finding him watching her, the soft tone of his words reflected in his face.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, his brows furrowing at the apology.

“Hey, you’ve nothing to apologise for.” He said, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss to her lips, his hand cupping her cheek, still burning from embarrassment. “And when you are ready…” his voice dropped, deep and barely above a whisper, moving so that she could feel his breath on her ear as he finished the sentence. “I’ll make you cum so hard, you won’t even remember that other guy’s existence.” The statement sent a shiver down her spine, the chill a direct contrast to the heat she felt everywhere else as he kissed her neck, her jaw, her lips. His arms dropped to her waist, hers wrapping around his shoulders as he kissed her deeply once again. All her concerns faded, her mind swimming with him, overtaken with want for more.

“I’m ready.” She told him, breaking away to look into his eyes, dark with desire.

“Are you sure?” He asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as he searched her face for any signs of uncertainty.

“One hundred percent. I want you, Nathan.” He crashed his mouth back onto hers, lifting her up from Kelly’s bed, gently laying her onto her own, and then he was on top of her, pressing her into the mattress. She lost herself in him, in the feeling of pleasure, and in that moment she forgot all about her concerns.

And when people ask her about her first time, she will tell them about that night, remembering it fondly with all the romanticism that comes with the last moment of happiness before a disaster.


	10. Chapter Ten

“I was a nasty slut. I went with so many boys, and girls, girls and boys at the same time. I took part in disgusting, perverted, unnatural acts. I was drinking and taking drugs. I used bad language all the time. I called my mum a fat bitch. But I’m not like that anymore. I’m a good person.” 

“That…” Nathan spoke, one arm holding up a cigarette, the other wrapped around Bea’s waist as they watched on. Across from them, a group, who Bea thought looked suspiciously like a cult, were taking turns discussing their previous moral failures, declaring themselves to have changed.

“That ain’t normal.” He finished, turning to look away from them, his arm falling from Bea, who felt a little disappointed at the loss of contact. She had been surprised by the fact that he was being so open with showing affection towards her, considering he had already admitted that she wasn’t usually his type. Though they had spent the entire weekend together, Nathan having had to sneak out her window when the rest of the family had unexpectedly shown up two hours before they were due, a part of her had expected him to have been ashamed to admit that they were together. At least she assumed they were, they hadn’t actually discussed it. 

“She went to my school.” Alisha realised, referring to the last girl to have spoken. “This one time she’s doing this boy I know in the back of her dad’s car, yeah? She gets off him and sits on the gear stick. She’s on there for, like, twenty minutes, literally…” she stopped, choosing to finish her point through acting it out, moaning and rocking the bench for an uncomfortably long time. 

“Try that in your driving test, you are definitely getting a fail.” Nathan joked when she had finished, poking Bea in the arm before leaning closer to her. “Though once you’ve passed.” He says to her, a brow raised suggestively. Despite lowering his voice, the rest of the group heard the comment, and the smirk on his face when they groaned suggested he had meant for them to hear. Bea blushed slightly with embarrassment, but also momentarily considered that maybe she wouldn’t be completely against it, but only for him. 

_ “Sorry Kelly.”  _ She quickly thought, remembering the unfortunate power her step sister had to live with. A quick glance at the girl, who was looking at her with disgust, told Bea that Kelly had in fact heard that thought. 

“It’s the same as some girls on our estate.” Kelly said, “No one’s even getting pregnant anymore. What about your friends?” She asked Simon, who was standing away from the rest of the group. 

“I believe that’s generally referred to as a paedophile ring.” Nathan quipped. 

“I’m not a paedophile.” Simon calmly responded. If he was annoyed or upset by the joke, he made no signs of showing it. 

“Bea would fit right in with them. Haven’t I seen that exact outfit in your wardrobe?” Kelly teased, pointing towards a girl wearing a plain white dress, and beige cardigan. 

“Haha.” She replied. A few weeks ago, the comment would’ve upset her, having believed Kelly to be actually insulting her. However, now that the pair had gotten quite close, she realised that this teasing was actually a sign of affection, though she still wasn’t convinced that this had always been the case. 

“Ah, our sweet, little Bea here may act all innocent, but after the weekend we just had, let me tell you…” Nathan finished the comment with a whistle, and Bea was quick to smack his chest, glaring at him.

“Nathan!” She scolded, though she struggled to hold back the small smile. 

“And if you could hear the things she thinks about.” 

“Kelly!” 

“Ooooh, I’d like to hear them.” Nathan’s face lit up at the comment, Bea beginning to feel a little uncomfortable at Kelly’s revelation, which the whole group seemed to be amused by, except Simon, who continued to stand away from them looking stoic. 

“Maybe she’s done sitting on her dad’s gearstick.” Curtis spoke up, getting the conversation back on track, much to Bea’s relief. 

“It’s not just her, is it.” Kelly stated, nodding at two more young people walking their way, dressed in a similar vein to the others. 

“I know him.” Curtis declared, Nathan calling them over. 

“Can I help you?” The man questioned, walking over to him. 

“Why are you all dressed like freaks?” Nathan asked. “No offence.” He directed at Bea, who wasn’t particularly pleased that her style was being compared to theirs, even if it was somewhat similar. At least she didn’t wear beige. 

“There’s a meeting in the community centre tonight. You should come along and find out. All of you.” He informed them, walking away to go join the rest of their cult. 

“Right, cool. See you there buddy.” Nathan sarcastically replied, receiving a thumbs up from the oblivious man. 

“He used to be a right headcase.” Curtis told them. “This is weird.” 

\---

“She’s never late.” Kelly observed. Sally was yet to show up and give the group their instruction for the day, and so they were all aimlessly spread around the room. 

“I think she’s gone on holiday.” Simon suggested. 

“Did she tell you that?” Curtis asked him. 

“She said she was going to Greece.” 

“No… they would’ve sent someone to cover her.” Curtis argued. 

“We should phone probation headquarters. And get them to send someone down here to supervise us.” Nathan stated, Bea staring at him in shock, trying to work out if he was joking. 

“Are you alright?” She asked him, reaching to place a hand to his forehead, jokingly checking his temperature. 

“Wow, one weekend with Bea and you’re already a changed man.” Kelly teased, and Nathan kicked the ball he had been playing with towards her, Kelly throwing it back aiming to hit him with it but getting Bea instead. They proceeded to pass the ball back and forth, Curtis and Alisha leaving the room, the others not needing to question where they might be going. As he had done all morning, Simon stood in silence, looking miserable. Though it wasn’t entirely out of character for him to be so quiet, Bea could tell there was something more. He was usually so observant to his surroundings, but today he didn’t seem to be paying attention at all. She wasn’t the only one to notice this, Nathan seizing the opportunity to mess with him, kicking the ball in his direction so that it bounced off the wall next to his head and startling him. Anger split across Simon’s face, and he grabbed one of the boxes sat next to him, flinging it towards Nathan, who just about managed to block it from hitting him square in the face. Despite the attack, Nathan looked almost pleased with the fact that after all these weeks he had finally gotten a rise out of him. 

“Well this is intense.” He said, Simon angrily glaring at him, Bea and Kelly silently watching the exchange. She would never admit it aloud, but Bea was hoping for a fight, wondering who would actually win, neither of the boys looking as though they had ever been in a fight before. Though Simon had tried to burn a house down, she thought, so if she had to place her bets on either, it would be him. However, she wouldn’t get her answer, Simon storming out of the room instead, Nathan quickly grabbing the ball that had rolled back towards him. 

“Don’t Nathan.” Kelly scorned, but he didn’t listen, kicking the ball in Simon's direction. It bounced off of the door, and for a moment it seemed as though Simon was about to come back, but instead he carried on. When still no one showed up, the three decided to also leave, Nathan catching Bea’s arm before she had a chance to follow Kelly into the changing room. 

“Since we don’t have anything to do now…” He said, pulling her by her waist so that she was against him, leaning down to kiss her. She knew what he was implying, and as tempting as it was, she knew she couldn’t stay right now. 

“I was hoping to have a nice lunch and maybe even a nap before work.” She told him apologetically, Nathan dramatically dropping his head back, groaning. “But…” She grabbed his chin, pulling him back to look at her. “I could always come back after.”

“Fine.” He agreed, giving her lips a quick peck before freeing her from his grasp. 

\---

When Sally still hadn’t shown up the next day, everyone had decided not to bother getting changed. Bea and Nathan had made themselves comfortable in Sally’s office while Curtis, Kelly, and Simon found some wheelchairs to lounge in. The idea that Sally could walk in at any moment to find her sat on her desk while Nathan kissed her excited Bea more than she expected, and Nathan was quick to pick up on it. 

“You like this.” He teased, kissing her neck. “The risk of getting caught is turning you on, isn’t it?” 

“A little.” She sheepishly admitted, Nathan pulling back to smirk at her, his hand sliding up her thigh, and she was so glad she had decided on wearing a dress today. Just as he was about to touch her, the door swung open, startling the pair, though Nathan kept his hand where it was with no shame. 

“I’m looking for Sally.” The man said, giving them a disapproving look. 

“Who?” Nathan asked. 

“We haven’t seen her.” Bea told him, hoping he wouldn’t ask anymore questions. Though she was, apparently, into the risk of being caught, actually being caught was nowhere near as exciting. 

“Can we take a message?” Nathan asked, reaching for a pen with the hand that wasn’t resting underneath Bea’s dress. 

“You’re alright.” He replied. 

“Okay.” Nathan didn’t wait for him to leave before carrying on with where he’d left off, his fingers finally touching her. Bea tried not to show a reaction as the man stood watching them, debating whether he should say something, before deciding it wasn’t worth it and closing the door. 

“How was that, eh?” Nathan teased her. “Imagine my fingers were already in you when he walked in.” He whispered, and Bea let out a shuddering breath as he proceeded to do exactly that. Not long after though, they were interrupted once again by Kelly bursting into the office, informing them that something was wrong with Alisha. 

“She’s saying all this weird stuff about sex and that. She says she’s saving herself until she’s ready to make a proper commitment.” Curtis explained. They had all gathered in the men’s bathroom, much to the discomfort of Kelly and Bea, who were sat facing the wall while Nathan insisted on peeing right now. He had made the point that Bea had already seen his penis, but it had only been a few days, she was not that comfortable with him yet. 

“It’s a sad day for all of us when a bird like that decides to pull up her knickers.” Nathan said. 

“You realise that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.” 

“And I feel your pain.” 

“Wash your hands before you touch me.” 

“Have you finished?” Kelly interrupted the argument, fed up of looking at the wall. 

“The beast is back in his cage.” Nathan told them, receiving a disgusted look from everyone in the room. “He is sleeping, shh!” 

“It’s that lot we saw yesterday. She’s dressing like that. They did something to her.” Curtis declared, moving the conversation back onto the topic they were all there to discuss. 

“What, like, brainwashin’ or something?” Kelly asked him. 

“It’s the storm.” Simon finally spoke up. 

“How do you know that?” Nathan questioned. “You don’t know that.” 

“When weird stuff happens, it’s always the storm.” Simon argued. “Haven’t you worked that out yet?” 

“He’s got a point.” Curtis supported, but Nathan wasn’t listening, too shocked that Simon had spoken to him in that way. 

“Did you just suddenly grow a set a’ balls?” He taunted. 

“I’ve always had a set of balls; you’ve just never seen them.” Simon shot back. While Bea was happy for him for finally fighting back, she wished he had chosen a better way to phrase it. 

“That is about the gayest thing I’ve ever heard.” Nathan laughed. 

“Shut up!” Kelly told him, having had enough of his constant teasing, especially when they had to figure out what was going on with Alisha. Deciding there was nothing more they could do that day, they agreed to sleep on it and come up with a plan tomorrow. 

\--- 

Bored of being at home all the time, Kelly decided to join Bea on her evening trip to see Nathan, the three of them squeezed onto the small mat eating pizza. Nathan had only been slightly disappointed when both girls had turned up, immediately being rejected in his idea of a potential threesome, even after arguing that it’s only wrong if you’re blood related. 

“Why do you give Simon so much grief?” Kelly asked Nathan, starting up a new topic when his thoughts were the only thing filling the silence. “Leave him alone, yeah?” 

“I’m just screwing around.” He argued. 

“Well, it’s not screwing around to him is it? There’s stuff going on with him.” She argued back. 

“Do you love him?” Nathan taunted, unable to have a serious conversation, Kelly hitting his head rather than giving an answer. Bea didn’t know how to feel about that; on the one hand it was amusing to watch Nathan get what he deserved for his constant remarks, but on the other, he was her sort of boyfriend, and she didn’t like seeing him be hurt.

“Ow! Jesus.” Nathan cried. 

“Just leave it then.” Kelly replied. 

“Alright touchy, I’ll leave your boyfriend alone.” 

“Did anyone else notice that he seemed weird today?” Bea asked them. 

“He’s always weird.” Nathan said, taking another slice of pizza. 

“No, but like, extra weird?” 

“Is that a sock?” Kelly interrupted, showing them what she had been sat on the whole time.

“Aw it’s crusty.” She said with disgust throwing it at Nathan. 

“Ah, don’t put it on my pizza.” He exclaimed. 

“Why are you sleeping with a crusty sock in your bed?” Kelly asked him, the conversation moving completely away from Simon. 

“Alright, yes. It’s my wank sock.” He admitted with far too much pride. Kelly quickly dropped the slice of pizza she had just picked up, disgusted by the revelation. Bea couldn’t help but laugh at her expense, ignoring the disappointed look that was thrown her way. While Kelly had been in full support of her and Nathan, she still didn’t fully understand what Bea saw in him. 

“Oh, no! Use some tissue!” Kelly said, wiping her hands on her jeans. 

“That requires planning, who’s that organised?” He argued. “Look you’ve just knocked one out, right? You’re lying there, cheap and deflated, there’s a pool of rapidly cooling spunk on your stomach, you’re looking around for something to mop it up with. Oh, hello, what’s this? It’s a sock. Job done, thank you.” He explained to them. 

“Maybe that’s your power!” Kelly sarcastically explained. 

“I am very good at it.” Nathan agreed. “Though not had much need for it right now, ain’t that right Bea?” He smirked, giving her a high five, which she returned by habit, not meaning to actually approve of the remark. 

“Gross. It’s bad enough I have to hear you both thinking about it all day.” Kelly complained. Have you had any more ideas what your power could be yet?”

“I give up, I obviously haven’t got one. It’s bullshit.” 

“Honestly, I’m starting to think you may be right.” Bea agreed. She had spent most of her free time with Nathan the last few weeks trying to figure out his power, sometimes with the help of Simon. They had ruled out basically every idea that the three of them could come up with that they could actually test, and they still had no idea. 

“You know why it is though?” He asked, both of them watching him expectantly. “Because you can’t improve on perfection.” He declared, making a show of flexing his, barely there, muscles, winking at Bea. 

“Honestly, I don’t know whose thoughts are worse to hear.” Kelly complained, feeling a little like a third wheel. “I need a drink to deal with being around the pair of ya.” 

“Then let’s go steal some booze.” Nathan suggested. 

Nathan and Kelly went to secure the alcohol while Bea went to the bathroom, but as she left to head back up the stairs, she noticed that there were people now in the centre with them. She quickly ducked behind the door, hoping to not be seen as she watched the group from the other day, now including Alisha, drag in three people who they had clearly kidnapped. Forcing them onto their knees, their hoods were removed, revealing one of the victims to be Curtis. Bea gasped, quickly covering her mouth and praying no one had heard her. A girl, who appeared to be their leader, stood in front of Curtis, saying something to him as he was held down. Bea couldn’t hear what it was she had said, but whatever it had been was enough to convince Curtis to stop struggling, the two men holding him down letting him go so that he could stand. The girl stepped forward, pinning something to his chest as the others clapped. Bea watched on helplessly as the process repeated with the other two captives, before the group finally cleared the centre. She quickly ran back, finding Kelly and Nathan leaving the office, carrying a handful of the ribbons that they had seen the strange group all wearing. 

“They got Curtis!” Bea exclaimed. 

“We saw. What are we going to do?” Kelly asked, looking between the two, sighing at the blank look they both were giving her. 

\---

The next morning, Kelly, Nathan and Bea found Simon, who was watching the cult members as they threw various “sinful” objects into a fire, cheering each other on. 

“Have you seen Curtis?” He asked them. 

“They got him last night in the community centre.” Nathan informed him. “There was some spooky shit.” 

“It’s her. She’s doing this to them.” Kelly pointed out the girl who had been the one to speak to Curtis then night before. She was currently holding the attention of a camera crew, giving them an interview. 

“She must have a power.” Bea stated, once again questioning whether her power was shared by others. 

“We need to find the probation worker.” Kelly said, leaving the group before anyone had the chance to argue. 

“Where is she?” Kelly questioned when they found her office empty once again. 

“There’s never a probation worker around when you need one!” Nathan exclaimed. “You were sucking up to her last week. Where is she?” He accused Simon. 

“I don’t know.” He stuttered, wiping his forehead with his palm, something Bea noticed he did often when he was nervous. But why would he be nervous? 

“We need to tell someone what she’s doing.” Kelly said. 

“Who’s going to care though?” Bea argued. 

“Yeah, right.” Nathan agreed. “Help! Everybody has stopped taking drugs and urinating in the streets. This is every policeman and parents wet dream.” He sighed, the extent of the situation sinking in. There was no one who could help, it was up to them. 

“C’mon Barry, you’re good at this stuff. Think of something.” He addressed Simon, confusing everyone with the name. 

“Who’s Barry?” Simon asked him, a hint of anger in his tone. 

“You are.” Nathan answered, looking around at the girls as though Simon was the one in the wrong. 

“His name’s Simon.” Kelly told him. 

“Is it? I thought it was Barry. Sorry man.” Simon stared at him in shock, and Bea wished more than ever that she had Kelly’s power to know what was going through his mind at that moment, the look on his face suggesting that he was planning all the ways in which he could kill him. 

“It’s Curtis and Alisha out there. It’s down to us.” Kelly declared as Alisha walked past the room. 

“We need to get her away from here. We need to find out what they’ve done to her.” Kelly said. 

“What about her power, we can’t touch her?” Simon reminded them. 

“And what if that virtue bitch shows up? She’s vexing them with some kind of Darren Brown voodoo mind shit.” Nathan added. 

“If we can get the virtue woman alone, I can use my power to make her turn them back.” Bea suggested. “As long as she doesn’t use hers first.” 

“Ooh, a battle of the mind control.” Nathan admired. “We need to gear up.” 

\--- 

After Nathan had explained how the virtue power hadn’t worked on him when he couldn’t hear her, they decided that gearing up meant earphones and rubber gloves, so that they could also avoid Alisha’s power. They decided that they would find Alisha first, hoping to discover more about how this power worked before they went straight to the source. They noticed Alisha walking alone down the corridor, pulling out an earphone to make a plan of action. 

“We’ll take her out through the fire exit.” Kelly suggested. “Bea keep watch in here, you two go round the back, check nobody's there. Don’t screw up.” Bea had never seen Kelly take charge of a situation like this before, admiring how well she played the leader, making a mental note to tell her about it later and then quickly remembering that Kelly probably already heard it. 

“Let’s do it.” Nathan whispered. They put their earphones back in and separated, Kelly and Bea heading towards the room Alisha had just entered. Giving a reassuring nod to Bea, Kelly walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door shut, Bea realised they hadn’t thought through the plan at all. How was she meant to know when they had gotten Alisha out the door? As she was about to open the door to ask Kelly about this, she felt a hand on her shoulder, quickly turning to come face to face with Curtis. 

“Curtis?” She shouted, hoping that Kelly would hear her, even though she was in another room with earphones blasting music with the intent of blocking out sound. Another flaw in their plan. Curtis was speaking to her, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. He pushed her away from the door, his strength meaning Bea had no chance of fighting back, and he grabbed the handle, trying to open the locked door. 

“Oh shit.” Bea cursed as the virtue woman came running down the hall. “Kelly she’s here.” She tried shouting. Realising that it wasn’t very helpful, she turned to run, Curtis’ hand shooting out to grab her arm, pulling her back. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him so that she was facing the woman, who was attempting to use her power on her. Realising that Bea couldn’t hear her, Curtis pulled at the wire, ripping the earphone from Bea’s ear. 

“You don’t have to be like this.” She started to say, and Bea started to feel a bit weird, her mind going a little foggy. 

“Oh,  _ shut up. _ ” She said, the woman going silent, and Bea’s head cleared. She tried to speak again, but no sound came out. 

“Haha, guess I won this mind control battle then.” Bea laughed. Before she had the chance to do anything else, Curtis pushed her into the wall, her head colliding with the brick sharply, and Bea collapsed to the floor as the world went black. 

\--- 

Blinking awake, Bea slowly sat up, her head pounding. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realised she was in Sally’s office, still wearing the rubber gloves, her iPod and mobile nowhere to be found. She remembered what had happened, Curtis knocking her out, Kelly struggling with Alisha. She hoped they had gotten out, there was no way she could do this alone, but at least she knew her power worked on the virtue woman now. She found the clock in the room, seeing that it was 8 o’ clock. Except it was light outside, so she knew it had to be 8am, realising that she had been out for hours. She ran over to the door, pushing at the handle, noticing that there was a pile of furniture pushed up against it, locking her in. Running up to the window, she saw the room was packed with members of the virtue cult, and she ducked down, hoping that no one had seen that she was awake. She needed to think of a plan to get out without drawing too much attention to herself. That’s when she saw Nathan walk into the centre, dressed in a grey suit, his hair somewhat tamed into a neat side part, a small ribbon pinned to his chest. 

“No.” Bea fought back tears as her stomach dropped. If Nathan had been gotten, there was no way the others had survived. She was alone now. She sat, pulling her knees to her chest and taking in deep breaths. 

_ “Now is not the time to panic.”  _ She thought.  _ “It’s up to you now.”  _ She was startled by the screams coming from the room next to her, peeking her head up to see what was going on. She saw Nathan and the head virtue, his arm around her neck, a gun held to her head as he dragged her up the stairs towards the roof. Bea let out a small laugh, mixed with a sigh of relief. Of course he hadn’t been caught. As everyone ran out the building, Bea grabbed a chair, throwing at the window, disappointed when all it did was bounce back. Instead she found a fire extinguisher, hitting the window with it repeatedly until it began to crack, eventually managing to smash it and climb out, thankful to still be wearing the gloves. Looking back at the mess, all she could think was  _ “Nathan is going to be so proud.”  _

Outside, she found where everyone had gathered behind the community centre, looking up to the roof where Nathan seemed to be in a small tuft with the virtue woman. It all happened too quick for Bea to fully process what was happening. First the woman went over the edge, screaming as she fell, the crowd gasping and looking away. Bea, however, was focused on Nathan, holding her breath as he stood at the edge, swinging his arms wildly in an attempt to balance himself. Simon appeared reaching out as Nathan began to go down, catching his hand. Bea couldn’t see what happened between them, all she saw was Nathan going down, landing on top of the fence. 

She couldn’t move. 

She stared at his body, impaled on the fence, his arms dangling, his head fallen back. 

She heard the screams. 

Saw her friends run up to him. 

Time carried on moving, but Bea didn’t. The world carried on around her, but she didn’t speak, didn’t cry. She followed Kelly around blindly, staring blankly ahead as the police questioned her, the scene playing out in her mind repeatedly as she imagined what she could’ve done differently. She thought of all the scenarios that could’ve happened, that would’ve led to Nathan being beside her, alive, and not under a sheet in the back of an ambulance, dead. 

She let Kelly lead her home, heard the questions from her family wanting to know what had happened. Heard them begging her to say something, to do something other than stare at the wall, but Bea didn’t see the wall. She saw Nathan, less than 24 hours before, discussing how they would save Alisha. She saw them making a different plan, a plan that wouldn’t lead to Bea getting knocked out, leading to her saving him. She saw them all on the roof of the community centre, drinking beer, celebrating that they had once again saved the day.

She attended the funeral. She sat through the service. She watched his coffin get lowered into the ground. She heard the speeches, the questions, the reassurances. She heard her friends talking to her, asking her to go with them. Tearing her eyes away from the fresh grave at her feet, she looked at the group, now one short, and spoke for the first time in days.

_ “Leave me alone.” _ She told them, her voice coming out as no more than a croak, and they did. They had no choice; they weren’t in control. It was only when she was alone, looking at his name engraved on the headstone, that she finally caught up to the rest of the world. She landed on her knees as she collapsed onto the grass, her hands filling with dirt as she clenched her fists, and she cried. 


End file.
